Post-Conjunction at Home Plate North, Getting ready to leave Options

[fredk]

The rear hinge and a wire are partially covered by darker dust.

The dust around here is light. It may look like streaks of dark dust, but those are really the areas where the dust has been cleared.

Man, I can't wait to hear some numbers!

[CosmicRocker]

Perhaps it's premature to join the cheerleaders, but are these rovers fortunate, or what? Can someone toss us a bone, for crying out loud?

[Tesheiner]

While still waiting for new Whr figures, just one remark for those comparing the two navcams I posted before. The idea was to have a reference picture together with the latest image to be sure what we were seeing was real and not an image artifact. If anybody wants to make comparisions about dust levels on them, remember that the first picture was taken about one year ago and not last week.

[hortonheardawho]

sol 1738-1761 R2 comparison:




Another R2 of the solar cells was taken on 1772 labeled pancam_dust_motion. The stamp image actually looks dustier - so we will have to wait for the full size image download.

[Guest_Oersted_*]

But Horton, that comparison is not with an image taken after the possible cleaning event, is it?

[hortonheardawho]

But Horton, that comparison is not with an image taken after the possible cleaning event, is it?

The animation was made to show that there was not nuch change between sols 1738 and 1761.

The 1772 R2 pancam image when posted hopefully will show more change.

[jamescanvin]

The 1772 R2 pancam image when posted hopefully will show more change.

Here is a gif flick between the sol 1761 and 1772 'dust_motion' pancams

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[djellison]

Something's definitely happened, but those few cells visible in the Pancam frames are less convincing that the large streaks across the right rear array on the Navcam shots.

[jamescanvin]

I think that this pancam is pointed at the rear of the right side array which shows very little change compared to other parts shown in the navcam image.

[RoverDriver]

I think that this pancam is pointed at the rear of the right side array which shows very little change compared to other parts shown in the navcam image.

That is correct. This pancam subframe was used to compare its vew with the same pancam subframe we captured during the first attempt to drive uphill.

Paolo

[sci44]

I was wondering - as you know, Spirit is trying to climb up a fairly steep slope. Looking at the direction of the dust streaks as it appears to "clear", could that be consistant with mechanical vibration aiding the clearance, or is that not possible - so this is purely the wind doing the work? To what extent could the clearing be an optical illusion - ie, when there is bright light fully reflected by the panels, they appear dusty, when not, the dusty patterns on the dark panels stand out..

Just my 2 cents..

[PaulM]

I was wondering if the dust movement was caused by a Marsquake.

[Fran Ontanaya]

But Mars crust is dead, and probably a quake strong enough to shake the rover would make a lot of dust go airborne over Gusev.

A very small vibration can't be the solution, or that shaking mode they tried to clean the MiniTES mirror would have been enough.

[PaulM]

But Mars crust is dead, and probably a quake strong enough to shake the rover would make a lot of dust go airborne over Gusev.

The Viking seismometer did not detect any Marsquakes. However as this abstract makes clear the seismometer was not very sensitive and only worked on none windy days:

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1979GeoRL...6..368G

It is stated in this article that a picture taken by MRO may be evidence of a Marsquake:

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/03/03/hi...ches-in-action/

[Fran Ontanaya]

There must be a minimum seismic level the MER can directly sense if it tries to.
Would the vibration trigger the dust devil capture program if it was running (and would the microscope be able to capture movement if it was looking)?

About the avalanches, I remember from high school geology that thermal expansion, abrasion, frost weathering, weight removal or even haloclastia or chemical weathering could be involved.