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Spirit - 2010 Winter@Troy, The first stationary science campaign
fredk
post Feb 22 2010, 05:20 PM
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That rock looks like countless thousands more just to our east on the edge of homeplate.
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vikingmars
post Feb 23 2010, 04:14 PM
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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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MizarKey
post Feb 24 2010, 02:36 AM
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I'm anticipating seeing something we wouldn't have seen if we'd kept moving. Maybe standing still will be a good thing too.


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Hungry4info
post Feb 27 2010, 11:41 AM
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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.


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JayB
post Mar 1 2010, 07:23 PM
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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

wheel.gif wheel.gif

(only 2 wheel.gif because , well, you know)
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fredk
post Mar 1 2010, 09:50 PM
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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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PaulM
post Mar 2 2010, 12:48 PM
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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.

Laubach, who suffered the silence of the Mars Polar Lander back in 1999, has also been talking with her drivers and engineers one on one, bracing for all possibilities.

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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Hungry4info
post Mar 2 2010, 01:04 PM
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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.


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djellison
post Mar 2 2010, 01:08 PM
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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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hendric
post Mar 2 2010, 02:49 PM
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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.


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bugs_
post Mar 2 2010, 04:28 PM
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Rovershock??? Oh Noez!!! I'll get that!
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Stu
post Mar 2 2010, 09:00 PM
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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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Explorer1
post Mar 2 2010, 10:30 PM
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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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fredk
post Mar 2 2010, 11:32 PM
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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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Explorer1
post Mar 3 2010, 05:54 AM
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QUOTE (fredk @ Mar 2 2010, 03:32 PM) *
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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