Opportunity Route Map Options

[bgarlick]

How about this 'route map'

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/galler...89_1780_sub.jpg

[Shaka]

If we'd had HiRISE in real time, how many "Tesh-hours" of work would have been saved?

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

In the first HiRISE image of Victoria/Oppy, I don't remember the tracks leading up to the crater being as clear as that.

[algorimancer]

If we'd had HiRISE in real time, how many "Tesh-hours" of work would have been saved?

And where would have been the fun in that? Navigation is fun Also a big time sink. I hope that, someday, a few places in the solar system are designated as something like wilderness reserves where overhead imagery is restricted to some low level (perhaps 100 km per pixel at best) so that rovers or people on the ground can have the joy of finding their way around and being the first to see whatever is over the next ridge. On the other hand, I really enjoy the high resolution overhead pics as a means of virtual exploration, so I'm a bit conflicted

[Tesheiner]

And where would have been the fun in that? Navigation is fun

You took the words of my mouth, algorimancer.

[Bill Harris]

Right, the route prognostications have been fun. But OTOH, it is fulfulling to see how close we have gotten to the correct path.

--Bill

[Floyd]

Excellent job Tesheiner! The circle pattern made at the end of drives and at some turns really show up nicely in the HiRISE. Great for checking reference points.

[CosmicRocker]

... I hope that, someday, a few places in the solar system are designated as something like wilderness reserves where overhead imagery is restricted to some low level (perhaps 100 km per pixel at best) so that rovers or people on the ground can have the joy of finding their way around and being the first to see whatever is over the next ridge. ...

I'm with you on that thought. I enjoy nothing as much as exploring a wilderness with a compass, or even exploring a wilderness with the stars, or the moss on trees as my compass.

I guess we'll have to wait for the map-projected Hi-Rise image as proof, but it seems pretty clear that our companion, Tesh, did a remarkable job of navigating for us.

Many thanks to him for the effort.

[fredk]

In the first HiRISE image of Victoria/Oppy, I don't remember the tracks leading up to the crater being as clear as that.

There may be a couple of factors here. The tracks are most visible over the dark eastern part of the rim due to contrast.

Another factor may be illumination angle. In this recent hazcam, the most recent set of tracks are quite a bit brighter on the left side of the image than the right. There's much less difference with the old tracks. We're getting (partial) specular reflection from the new, smooth tracks. Maybe this new MRO image caught the tracks at a favourable angle.

BTW, as others have said, stunning job mapping our route, Tesheiner!

[Shaka]

For sure, Freddo. The left track is up-sun. Look at the shadows.

[CosmicRocker]

The histograms for both of those HiRise images were very different. I think different processing is more likely the reason the tracks were more visible in the later image.

[um3k]

I think, but I'm not sure (just edu-guessing, really), that the new image is from the blue-green channel. The upturned soil is bluer (less unblue?) than the surface stuff, making the contrast much greater than in the red channel.

[fredk]

That could be another factor, in addition to illumination angle as I wrote above. Judging from the lengths of the cliff shadows, this latest image is under much more vertical solar illumination than the previous MRO Victoria images, which could enhance the brightness of the smooth tracks through partial specular reflection. It's definitely more than just image processing/stretching, since the tracks appear darker than the annulus on the earlier MRO images, but lighter than the annulus in the new image.

[CosmicRocker]

I can imagine it might very well be a different filter. It might be interesting to look at the PDS-released data for differently filtered images. If the difference is due to processing, it probably isn't something as simple as contrast stretching. The histogram for this new image shows a smoothly bimodal distribution, which is distinctly different from the spiky, polymodal distributions displayed by the previous two images of Victoria.

It cannot be related to the solar incidence angle, since that seems to be essentially constant for any particular latitude. I assume that is a characteristic of MRO's orbit. The only thing that can change about the illumination angle is the compass direction the sunlight is coming from as it changes from season to season. But if that was the reason for more visible tracks, then tracks running in different directions would be expected to have a greater range of visibility than they do.

The more I think about it, the more likely it seems that um3k is correct. The tracks in this new image are lighter than the annulus surface. In the previous, red-filtered images, the tracks were darker than the surface.

[climber]

You took the words of my mouth, algorimancer.

I concoure. Even if Big Brother is looking over your shoulder it'll never see the berries YOU're able to use as references!