Spirit - 2010 Winter@Troy, The first stationary science campaign |
Spirit - 2010 Winter@Troy, The first stationary science campaign |
Feb 22 2010, 05:20 PM
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#61
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4256 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 152 |
That rock looks like countless thousands more just to our east on the edge of homeplate.
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Feb 23 2010, 04:14 PM
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#62
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1089 Joined: 19-February 05 From: Close to Meudon Observatory in France Member No.: 172 |
tau is indeed very low : look at the contrast on the surface, details on the hills, and at the dark sky...
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...7MP0703L0M1.JPG |
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Feb 24 2010, 02:36 AM
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#63
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Member Group: Members Posts: 295 Joined: 2-March 04 From: Central California Member No.: 45 |
I'm anticipating seeing something we wouldn't have seen if we'd kept moving. Maybe standing still will be a good thing too.
-------------------- Eric P / MizarKey
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Feb 27 2010, 11:41 AM
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#64
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1452 Joined: 26-July 08 Member No.: 4270 |
Physorg is running a story
"Spirit's Journey to the Center of Mars" http://www.physorg.com/news186415686.html They're talking about Spirit's science campaign to determine Mars' interior, but ... darn if that isn't ironic considering the recent drives. -------------------- -- Hungry4info (Sirius_Alpha)
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Mar 1 2010, 07:23 PM
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#65
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 90 Joined: 23-February 09 From: Edmonton, Alberta Member No.: 4611 |
via twitter
@elakdawalla Ray Arvidson: Spirit's last 9 drives did 39 cm, "pretty good for a lander." In spring, a couple weeks of work should get Spirit out. #lpsc (only 2 because , well, you know) |
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Mar 1 2010, 09:50 PM
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#66
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4256 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 152 |
More details in the latest planetary update. On driving in the spring:
QUOTE The rover won’t even try to turn wheels again until perhaps August or September... Then, said Arvidson, even though it's got a science campaign laid out, Spirit will probably first start driving again, since it's "almost out” of its sandy snare. With only four fully functioning wheels... “a lot of it will be very difficult,” he admitted. “We're going to have to do a lot of turning about the right hand side, so we're not going to drive far. But we're not necessarily a static lander.” Meanwhile, the engineers at JPL have already been assessing the drive capabilities with the rover replicate in the In-Situ Instrument Laboratory (ISIL), according to JPL’s Scott Lever, an MER mission manager. “We did some 4-wheel drive testing in the ISIL and did well, surprisingly well,” he said. About the success of backwards driving: QUOTE “[The wheel] wiggles seem to have solved the problem of what's called the rolling resistance, the resistance due to the soil surrounding the wheels and just making the wheels spin in place,” Arvidson said. “The wheels couldn’t go forward because there was so much pressure resisting them. Wiggling creates the space and lowers the pressure and that's why I think we got the 34 centimeters (13.38 inches) in the last 10 drives. We were wiggling as part and parcel of that activity.” The last couple of drives, he added, were shorter, due to declining power, the reason Spirit made less progress than it did during the earlier backwards drives.
The progress made also apparently eliminated the threat of Belly Rock, the pointed rock that had been touching Spirit’s underside. “We think Belly Rock is now out from under the rover,” Laubach said. |
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Mar 2 2010, 12:48 PM
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#67
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Member Group: Members Posts: 206 Joined: 15-August 07 From: Shrewsbury, Shropshire Member No.: 3233 |
latest planetary update. also contains the following quote:
Callas scheduled an ‘all-hands’ meeting at JPL to discuss the engineering realities and to make sure everyone on the team is fully aware of just how tough this winter is going to be for Spirit. The long period of silence, as well as the possibility, though seemingly unlikely at this juncture, that it may stay silent could send team members into a kind of rovershock. I wonder if "rovershock" counselling will be available for Rover fans around the World when both MER rovers cease to function. My hope is that Oppy will still be roving when MSL lands and that consequently new rover pictures will be available each day of this decade without interruption. |
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Mar 2 2010, 01:04 PM
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#68
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1452 Joined: 26-July 08 Member No.: 4270 |
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean about MSL. Shortly after NASA declared Spirit a stationary rover, it started to hit me how terribly attached to the MER rovers I was. It hurt a lot that Spirit was permanently stuck. I don't know how I will feel when Spirit and/or Opportunity cease functioning. I dread to think of it.
Phoenix was okay, we all knew it was coming, how and roughly when it would die. Never got the time to really get firmly attached to it. I can't imagine how much it will hurt those who operate the MER rovers once one of them fails. .... ugh that's a dreadful thought too. -------------------- -- Hungry4info (Sirius_Alpha)
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Mar 2 2010, 01:08 PM
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#69
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Like all the best funerals (and that's not a construct of words you use very often) it's about celebrating rather than mourning. It will be emotional, it will be frustrating, but it will be a chance to finally look back and appreciate all that has gone before.
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Mar 2 2010, 02:49 PM
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#70
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Director of Galilean Photography Group: Members Posts: 896 Joined: 15-July 04 From: Austin, TX Member No.: 93 |
I was just wondering this a few weeks ago. I think if MSL had kept with its original schedule, it would be wheels down on Mars now or very soon? So in my estimation, Spirit and Opportunity already made it to the party, it's MSL that's fashionably late.
-------------------- Space Enthusiast Richard Hendricks
-- "The engineers, as usual, made a tremendous fuss. Again as usual, they did the job in half the time they had dismissed as being absolutely impossible." --Rescue Party, Arthur C Clarke Mother Nature is the final inspector of all quality. |
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Mar 2 2010, 04:28 PM
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#71
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Newbie Group: Members Posts: 13 Joined: 19-December 04 Member No.: 125 |
Rovershock??? Oh Noez!!! I'll get that!
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Mar 2 2010, 09:00 PM
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#72
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Together. In the meantime, here's Spirit's latest view of the Hills... http://twitpic.com/169cql/full -------------------- |
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Mar 2 2010, 10:30 PM
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#73
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2106 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
Something I've been wondering about for some time, (Mods move this if I'm posting in the wrong topic):
When/where did Spirit last catch a glimpse of the lander? I don't recall it being visible from the top of Husband Hill, due to haze and/or distance, so it must have been much earlier than that, correct? Looking at the panorama, It would be nice to see a sort of 'goodbye' image, like when Oppy left Eagle crater and took some last photos of the place. |
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Mar 2 2010, 11:32 PM
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#74
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4256 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 152 |
It's been so long since those days, and I don't recall when our last sighting of the lander was. But the reflective heatshield, and the big bright parachute were visible to at least around sol 600, ie the summit of Husband. Check out this thread.
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Mar 3 2010, 05:54 AM
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#75
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2106 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
Check out this thread. Yeah, that's what I was thinking of! No chance of seeing them from down in the valley though, right? |
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