Back to work, Post-hiatus but pre-entry Options

[fredk]

I think the return to driving deserves a new topic for Oppy. According to this new release, Oppy is back up to 300 Whrs, and had a small cleaning event!

The release also gives a surprizing reason for the drive to the rim:

One reason the rover team chose to drive Opportunity closer to the crater rim was to be prepared, if the pace of dust accumulation on the solar panels increases, to drive onto the inner slope of the crater. This would give the rover a sun-facing tilt to maximize daily energy supplies. The drive was also designed to check performance of the rover's mobility system, so it included a turn in place and a short drive backwards.

That explains why they drove to this point on the rim - if they enter they'll face south, as it's still southern summer.

[fredk]

New nav/pancam imagery peering over the rim into the abyss tosol at exploratorium. It looks to me like we've got dust on the left pancam, along the right edge of the frame. I'm sure it's not vignetting - pancams have only negligible vignetting. A sky view would confirm this. So it seems both left navcam and left pancam have been affected by dust.

You can see it easily comparing L2 and R2:

[gallen_53]

It looks to me like we've got dust on the left pancam, along the right edge of the frame. I'm sure it's not vignetting - pancams have only negligible vignetting. A sky view would confirm this. So it seems both left navcam and left pancam have been affected by dust.

Is this dust degradation now a permanent "fact of life" or is there any possibility that image quality could be restored, e.g. by a dust devil passing over the rover?

[dvandorn]

Is this dust degradation now a permanent "fact of life" or is there any possibility that image quality could be restored, e.g. by a dust devil passing over the rover?

One more time -- there have never, ever, even once, even just maybe, *ever* been any dust devils spotted anywhere near Opportunity. All of Oppy's cleaning events have come from straight-line winds.

I know I sound like a broken record on this sometimes, but it's like wishing for a nice, refreshing blizzard in the middle of the Sahara, or expecting tornadoes at the South Pole. Some types of weather are just not observed at some locations, and dust devils are just not observed at or near Oppy's landing site.

That said, I have high hopes that the inner slopes of Victoria will intensify local winds (that old racetrack pattern) and that by dipping down into her, Oppy will be able to avail herself of cleaning events regularly.

-the other Doug

[stevesliva]

One more time -- there have never, ever, even once, even just maybe, *ever* been any dust devils spotted anywhere near Opportunity. All of Oppy's cleaning events have come from straight-line winds.

Actually, thanks for saying it again. I hadn't made the connection yet, if you can believe that!