The Top of Vera Rubin Ridge Part 1, Site 66-67, sol 1812-1943, 11 Sep 2017-23 Jan 2018 Options

[Phil Stooke]

Yes, that is a beautiful view. Here is Damia's panorama in circular form. There are lots of circular depressions around here, presumably small impact craters.

Phil

[serpens]

There doesn't seem to have been any progress on the drill since late October. Given that the hematite ridge is a reasonably important area for analysis can we assume that the non stabilised test on the drill function was unsuccessful?

[PaulH51]

Sol 1894 Workspace (raw L-MastCam assembled in MS ICE) contains several of the targets located above the shadow of Curiosity's mast that were mentioned in the latest plan

[PaulH51]

There doesn't seem to have been any progress on the drill since late October....

Measuring what remains of the Mount Sharp Ascent Route (MSAR) using Fernando's GE Map, there is a small loop that takes the rover a little way east before doubling back to the down ramp. From the current location the remaining path is just over one kilometer long, so unless they deviate from the plan and head straight for the down ramp we may still have plenty of time for JPL to work on the drill before dropping down onto the 'Clay' deposits that await beyond the ridge. (Fingers crossed)
See GE screen capture:

[Art Martin]

I've been dying to see the latest views in 3D. Here's a quick and dirty one from 1894

Panorama 1894

[erwan]

[quote name='Ant103' date='Dec 4 2017, 01:25 PM' post='237857']
This panorama taken on Sol 1894 is just incredible. Like we could touch the hills !

Magnifique encore Damia merci

[ngunn]

Yes, that is a beautiful view. Here is Damia's panorama in circular form.

We seem to be high enough now to see some mountains beyond the northern crater rim. They are at about 11:30 on that circular projection. Does anyone have a handy map of what's out there? Presumably we'll see more as we continue climbing, weather permitting.

[elakdawalla]

There doesn't seem to have been any progress on the drill since late October. Given that the hematite ridge is a reasonably important area for analysis can we assume that the non stabilised test on the drill function was unsuccessful?

Don't conclude that. It's just a very, very slow process. Drilling is only half the problem; delivering to the instruments is another equally difficult problem. In the meantime, they're driving when they can before AGU, Christmas, and New Year's.

[Phil Stooke]

"We seem to be high enough now to see some mountains beyond the northern crater rim. They are at about 11:30 on that circular projection. Does anyone have a handy map of what's out there?"


http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...mp;#entry236966


Phil

[PaulH51]

MS ICE made a pigs ear out of the 1896 NavCams, but the tracks came out well

[Ant103]

Thank you everyone for your kind messages

Here is Sol 1896 Navcam pan. Again, spectacular view there.

[Phil Stooke]

Thanks, Damia - here is a circular version to show our location in the crater-like depression

Phil

[HSchirmer]

MS ICE made a pigs ear out of the 1896 NavCams, but the tracks came out well

Is the rover "crabbing" for some reason?

The left side tracks seem substantially wider than right side? Not just parallax,
but what seems to be considtent 1.5x or 2x tread width on the left, but 1.5x or 1.0x on the right?

[Gerald]

On one track, the three wheels seem to be pretty well aligned, while on the other track they seem to be displaced by almost the width of a wheel, resulting in a wider track.
I could only speculate about the reason for the different horizontal displacements with respect to the driving direction. Might be some lateral slip due to the slope and sandy ground.

[elakdawalla]

One way to do that would be if the track were not straight but actually had a constant curvature bent slightly to the rover's right. The middle wheels are positioned about half a wheel width outside the corner wheels. A slightly curved track would put the tracks from the wheels on the outside of the turn on top of each other, but would displace the track of the middle wheel on the inside of the turn off of the path of the corner wheels.