Go For Vostok Options

[dot.dk]

Done with the heatshield and on the road to Vostok



Time to put the pedal to the metal! How far is the maximum drive distance in one SOL? Will Oppy be able to make a new one day drive record despite the dust in the sky?

[djellison]

Unlikely to break that 140m record - but 100m is doable, easily.

They may want to hop from feature to feature though - there's a lot of them out here

Impossible to tell how far they've gone from the Heatshield though. There's end of drive L7/R1 direction of drive mosaics - and lots of navcam, but not quite enough navcam to show us where the heatshield is yet

I think they turned in place at the end of the drive - something thye often do to optimize the UHF pases ( i.e. limit line of sight blockage by PMA, HGA, LGA etc )

Doug

[dot.dk]

Yeah I too wanna know how far away they are from the heatshield

But now Oppy has a chance to steal the total drive distance record from Spirit. Looks like Oppy is stealing all the limelite from Spirit
Poor Spirit

[mook]

Oppy might be stealing the limelight from Spirit, but Spirit's gonna have the best views in the house for some time yet....

[dot.dk]

Oppy might be stealing the limelight from Spirit, but Spirit's gonna have the best views in the house for some time yet....

Until Oppy reaches Victoria Crater

Man, that thing gotta be HUGE

[Bert]

Hi all,

Guest/lurker of the first hour here, finally breaking the spell!

I was looking at the "Route to Victoria" image ( http://mer.rlproject.com/index.php?showtopic=349 ) and I wondered where exactly Vostok Crater is in that image.

Does anyone know?

[Bert]

Nevermind.

I found the answer here:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre...h-A357R1_br.jpg

[mars_armer]

Not sure if anyone has already posted this, but here's the initial driving plan from the heatshield to Vostok:

[dot.dk]

Wow great map

But I really doubt those small craters are gonna show anything. They will only be small depressions on the plains. But then we will get to Vostok quicker

[djellison]

Those little craters are just like Fram I'd imagine...

Vostok looks like it'll be a very interesting place though - almost like a stone age banjo enclosure

Oh - PS - where in hells name did you get that picture Is this another Pando situation? (From a happy-to-help insider, I could tell you, but I'd have to shoot you)

Wherever it came from thank you

PPS - for those confused, north is left on that image.

Doug

[mars_armer]

Oh - PS - where in hells name did you get that picture   Is this another Pando situation? (From a happy-to-help insider, I could tell you, but I'd have to shoot you)

Wherever it came from thank you

I'm not sure what Pando's situation is, but your guess is pretty good about mine. I have a couple of happy-to-help insiders. I don't know if they are breaking any rules in forwarding information, so I want to be careful about posting.

I debated whether to post the picture, but it seemed so informative I decided to take a chance. I imagine JPL will soon be releasing something similar, since there won't be much else for them to talk about during this driving phase.

[tedstryk]

Good to see Oppy getting moving. I mean, remember, even Spirit's longer treck is only 2.5 miles....comparable to the outbound leg of a short dayhike. While the distance it has travelled has been remarkable, I think of how much of the nearby Great Smoky Mountains I could explore in a 2.5 mile hike (Granted, that would be limited by tree cover during portions of the year making it worse here on earth). I wonder how far Oppy will go....

[Guest_paulanderson_*]

In the same TPS interview where he talks about Peace rock, Squyres also mentions Vostok in the last paragraph:

http://planetary.org/news/2005/mer-update_0121.html

"In coming sols, Opportunity will continue her journey southward along the Meridiani plains, to an area called Etched Terrain, "hop-scotching from crater to crater," as Squyres put it. The next target is Vostok -- a circular feature that is crater-like in appearance but is unusual. But from now one, she'll be giving those cobbles a second look."

I had also just heard him in a radio interview (Planetary Radio from TPS, January 3) where he said he had doubts that Vostok is actually a crater (or not a typical one at least) and he was quite interested in getting to it.

Paul

[djellison]

There's a new Director Update ( Jeff Favretto - he does cool ones )

He mentioned that Opportunity was instructed to drive 80 metres today and it is hoped it will do ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY METERS tomorrow

let me say that again

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY METERS.

If they do it - it's a new mars distance record - and it'll put the heatshield as just a few pixels on Navcam and bring us to that first crater on the crater-hop image - which looks mainly like a bit of a Fram - but seing as it follows a new record and we're likely to set quite a few over the next few months - I think we should give them names of land speed record holders

So - Next stope - Green Crater ( followed by Noble, Gabelich, Breedlove, Arfons....)

Doug

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

There's a new Director Update ( Jeff Favretto - he does cool ones )

He mentioned that Opportunity was instructed to drive 80 metres today and it is hoped it will do ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY METERS tomorrow

let me say that again

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY METERS.

If they do it - it's a new mars distance record - and it'll put the heatshield as just a few pixels on Navcam and bring us to that first crater on the crater-hop image - which looks mainly like a bit of a Fram - but seing as it follows a new record and we're likely to set quite a few over the next few months - I think we should give them names of land speed record holders

So - Next stope - Green Crater ( followed by Noble, Gabelich, Breedlove, Arfons....)

Doug

An excellent idea on crater names. It's just past 1pm at Meridiani - so I presume Opportunity has hit the road by now

edit: A note of clarifiaction, the 80 metre drive was JUST completed and seen in the most recent navcam images etc? And the 160 is currently underway?