Oppy's Moving Again! |
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Oppy's Moving Again! |
 Jun 30 2005, 08:18 AM
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#1
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 Member  Group: Members Posts: 236 Joined: 21-June 05 Member No.: 417  |
Oppy has finished her investigations at Purgatory Dune, and is about to head... NORTH! (and then east or west
  Latest update from Steve Squyres: http://athena.cornell.edu/news/mubss/ |
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Jun 30 2005, 08:50 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 877 Joined: 7-March 05 From: Switzerland Member No.: 186 |
Wow, but what's now the result of the study on Purgatory dune?
 I hope Steve or the official site comes up with more details later! Are they still in investigations?
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Jun 30 2005, 12:27 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 4279 Joined: 19-April 05 From: .br at .es Member No.: 253 |
Tman, that is something that I (and most of all) want to know too.
And when Squyres says that they want to go backwards to see which is the best path, by the east or by the west, it means that they shoud HAVE (?) the criteria to decide. And based on what? - Dune sizes? - Slope? - Termal inertia? - Color? Let's do some guessing in the meantime and wait for the next update... |
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Jun 30 2005, 12:37 PM
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#4
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10160 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
OK, I'll do some guessing. My guess is that nothing useful will be learned about the hazard posed by Purgatory - nothing which can be used to avoid another trap. There may be several possibilities, including very fine grain size or a local steep slope - but in the absence of experiments leading to getting stuck or not stuck in lots of other places we will not know for sure what happened. Everywhere else was fine, though, so I expect most driving will continue to be fine, but with various protections built in it might go a bit slower.
Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PD: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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Jun 30 2005, 01:58 PM
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#5
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Member Group: Members Posts: 236 Joined: 21-June 05 Member No.: 417 |
I guess Dr Squyres and Co think it's better to be safe than sorry. No more risk taking! After all, they are dealing with a multi-million dollar baby.
If you look at surface of the terrain north of Purgatory Dune (i.e. where Oppy came from - it's as flat as a wet beach) compared to the area south of it (where Oppy was heading - it's more like a choppy sea), it's quite obvious they can't traverse it. I wonder why it took the operators so long to realize that. So my idea is that they will go east or west, skirting that 'choppy sea' area until they find an acceptable route to the south. |
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Jun 30 2005, 02:08 PM
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#6
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 Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 90 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 289 |
I’m sure that many things they will have learnt from Purgatory dune will be applied to future rover designs rather than necessarily allowing them to find a different way to tackle this hazard with Oppy.
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Jun 30 2005, 02:50 PM
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#7
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Member Group: Members Posts: 290 Joined: 26-March 04 From: Edam, The Netherlands Member No.: 65 |
QUOTE (general @ Jun 30 2005, 01:58 PM) I guess Dr Squyres and Co think it's better to be safe than sorry. No more risk taking! After all, they are dealing with a multi-million dollar baby. If you look at surface of the terrain north of Purgatory Dune (i.e. where Oppy came from - it's as flat as a wet beach) compared to the area south of it (where Oppy was heading - it's more like a choppy sea), it's quite obvious they can't traverse it. I wonder why it took the operators so long to realize that. So my idea is that they will go east or west, skirting that 'choppy sea' area until they find an acceptable route to the south.  Traversability of dunes was fine for hundreds of meters, until oppy got stuck. The morphology of the dunes is absolutely no problem for the mobility system. It's the material that did not support oppy enough to stay on top of it. So, i do not wonder why it took the operators long to realize that. Something happened that was very hard to predict (if not impossible). I agree though on the statement that going back some distance to see whether another route (from the flat part) is better, is the safest next step. However, i am afraid that there's no other route to Erebus (or Victoria) then through the dunes ! |
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Jun 30 2005, 03:16 PM
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#8
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14432 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
QUOTE (general @ Jun 30 2005, 01:58 PM) it's quite obvious they can't traverse it. Well - it's obvious NOW - but wasnt so obvious before Doug |
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Jul 1 2005, 07:07 AM
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#9
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 The Insider Group: Members Posts: 669 Joined: 3-May 04 Member No.: 73 |
We shall find out. We'll be on the road again, in a day or two...
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Jul 1 2005, 02:48 PM
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#10
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
Has anyone heard anything in regards the mini-TES work they did at Purgatory? If anything showed up as characteristic of this particular soft powder, that would help a lot in being able to plan a safe route, regardless of the drift morphology. Just do mini-TES sweeps of various potential routes, and avoid those that traverse through areas with the same characteristics...
-the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Jul 2 2005, 01:41 AM
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#11
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The Insider Group: Members Posts: 669 Joined: 3-May 04 Member No.: 73 |
The miniTES is still flaky, from time to time. But... looks like we're ready to roll now, IDD is stowed so let's get moving!
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...WEP1211R0M1.JPG |
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Jul 2 2005, 12:29 PM
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#12
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 578 Joined: 5-November 04 From: Denmark Member No.: 107 |
And we are moving!
 
-------------------- "I want to make as many people as possible feel like they are part of this adventure. We are going to give everybody a sense of what exploring the surface of another world is really like"
- Steven Squyres |
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Jul 2 2005, 01:19 PM
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#13
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 362 Joined: 12-June 05 From: Kiama, Australia Member No.: 409 |
QUOTE (dot.dk @ Jul 2 2005, 11:29 PM) And we are moving! This shows a nice contrast between new and old wheeltracks. Changes are obvious even though tracks were in opposite direction. |
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| Guest_Sunspot_* |
Jul 2 2005, 01:28 PM
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#14
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Guests |
So good to see Opportunity driving again.
How far North do you think they wil go? |
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Jul 4 2005, 09:26 AM
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#15
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2826 Joined: 22-April 05 From: Ridderkerk, Netherlands Member No.: 353 |
A panoramic view of the direction in which Opportunity is moving.
Away from Purgatory Dune. The old wheeltracks. jvandriel
Attached thumbnail(s)
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