After Victoria..., .. what next? |
After Victoria..., .. what next? |
May 28 2007, 02:07 PM
Post
#1
|
|
The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
I know we've had rather light-hearted discussions about this before, with most people agreeing that Oppy is likely to end her days inside or on the edge of Victoria Crater, simply because there's nothing else to investigate within reach, but has Steve S got it in his mind that Oppy will head off somewhere else after Victoria? This report could be read in a way that suggests that...
-------------------- |
|
|
Jun 1 2007, 08:33 PM
Post
#2
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 656 Joined: 20-April 05 From: League City, Texas Member No.: 285 |
Getting back to the question of whether the region between Victoria and Ithaca is traversable... I just spent some time measuring dune sizes in areas where Opportunity was able to A) Traverse irrespective of dune direction (for example, a point midway between Endurance and Purgatory, B) Traverse between dunes with care (for example, a point midway between Purgatory and Eagle), and C) Not traverse (Purgatory 1 & 2, or crossing dunes between them). I then spot-checked the HiRISE image to the south and east of Victoria and compared. Not surprisingly, there is a big non-traversable region to the east of Vicky, and another rather far towards the south, but much (most) of the remainder of the region falls in the traversable realm, either resembling the vicinity of Eagle crater (scattered dunes over open stretches of evaporite) or relatively small dunes which Oppy can just roll over without worrying about getting stuck, with the occasional exceptional big dune scattered about which would be easy to navigate around. In other words, it may be far more easily traversable than our earlier cynically optimistic assumptions. When I compare this "ground truth" with the Themis day/night infrared images it looks to me like there may be a nearly direct route between Victoria and the western rim of Ithaca, much of which can be covered in hundreds of meter safe drives. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic :)
To get a sense of this, use the fully-zoomed-in HiRISE image viewer to capture a view of the dunes (at the same scale) mentioned in A & B above, then scan around in the image viewer and compare with the captured images. The terrain gets progressively easier to navigate as you move to the southeast. |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 31st October 2024 - 11:40 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |