Some Statistics for Spirit & Oppy, As the journey continues on Mars Options

[tanjent]

Re: Brellis' diagram in 194 - I can't see the descent into endurance crater. Is that simply because it was pre-MRO and therefore it missed getting mapped? My sense of perspective must have adapted as the rovers showed what they could do, because I never would have thought that the descent into Victoria was vertically greater than Spirit's climb of Huisband Hill either. I must be misinterpreting the graph. Somebody set me straight!

[fredk]

That chart is based on MOLA shot data in the neighbourhood of Oppy's journey. Those data samples fall where they fall - they usually don't fall very close to Oppy's route. That data is pretty sparse on that scale, so presumably no samples hit Endurance. Some samples did hit the interior of the much bigger Victoria. But Oppy only drove into Victoria a small part of the way to the bottom, not nearly as deep as the data point.

[brellis]

Oppy descended about 12m below the rim of the 70m deep Victoria Crater, IIRC.

One of her two major mechanical problems (wheel voltage or arm stiffness, I forget which) precipitated a U-turn.
From wiki, it was the wheel:

The rover left the crater interior on sol 1634 (August 29, 2008) after it experienced a current spike similar to the one which preceded the malfunction of twin Spirit's right front wheel.[3] After a partial anti-clockwise circumnavigation, the rover set off towards its next major destination, the crater Endeavour.[9]

Interesting stat from this Science Daily article:

The rim of Victoria Crater is about 30m higher than the rim of Endurance, said Squyres; and as the rover drove south toward Victoria the hematite blueberries in the soil became ever fewer and smaller. Rocks deep inside the crater, however, contained big blueberries – indicating that the rocks higher up had less interaction with water – and thus the water's source was likely underground.

It wasn't as vertically dramatic as "heading for the Hills", but still...kinda like a roller coaster ride, eh?

[NW71]

as of Nov 2nd 2010, Oppy mean meters per sol is 10.3 (as shown on Dilo's graph above) and increasing very "fast" since she reached 10m by early October.

And so it has continued, despite the fact that we spent a good deal of time shortly after Climber made the above post at Santa Maria crater.

In fact, after today (sol 2635), Oppy has an average of 11.9 metres per sol (31,343 metres). I'll check when this was last the case and get back to you all.

Neil

[brellis]

Opportunity has been driven backwards since leaving Victoria Crater. Eye ball glance at Google Mars says she's driven about twice as far backwards as she did primarily forward prior to her arrival at Victoria. That's gotta be approaching 20km. Has anyone driven anything that far backwards, anywhere?

Good thing she has eyes on the back of her head!

[NW71]

Higher Oppy mean per sol was on Sol 438 April, 16th 2005 roving 11.9m/Sol

Finally had a chance to look again at the sheets that Climber so kindly made available some 9 months ago.

On Sol 437/8 Oppy had covered 5,225 metres to give an average of 11.96 mtrs/sol.

On Sol 2635 Oppy had covered approximately 31,343 metres to give an average of 11.89 mtrs/sol.

Oppy needs to gain about 170 metres on top of 11.96 mtrs/sol to break her own record which has stood since April 2005.

Neil

[MoreInput]

As nearly a half year is over, I post a new update of the mission timeline.

The sad milestone is that Spirits mission is now over. Hey, it lauchend over 8 years ago (10th June) ... what a time.
For Oppy there are just two points: Leaving Santa Maria after the solar conjunction, and reaching 30 km.

Some facts:
For the first 10 km Opportunity need 1108 (earth) days
For the second 10 km Opportunity needed 1143 days.
And for the third 10 km Opportunity needed just 435 day.

If dilo has time to update the total odometry sheet I will integrate the milestones again.

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[dilo]

New update (slightly in advance due to imminent holidays... ):

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[dilo]

If dilo has time to update the total odometry sheet I will integrate the milestones again.

Ii is not possible to attach an .ods file, I will try through email...

[MoreInput]

As dilo so kind to send me the statistics sheet and the odometer plot, I repaint the integrated drive statistics / mission timeline again.

Nothing really new just more km on the odometer.

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[eoincampbell]

A neat combo', thank you both.

[dilo]

As dilo so kind to send me the statistics sheet and the odometer plot, I repaint the integrated drive statistics / mission timeline again.

You're welcome, beautiful work!

[NW71]

Evening all,

According to Teshiner (post no. 722 on the 'Post Conjuction thread') Oppy's 5 hour driving marathon is now scheduled for sol 2645.

To break her 6 year old average distance per sol I estimate she will need to cover 156.46 metres during that drive.

Just a reminder (as if one was needed) that this is a machine now in her 30th 90 day phase and her 32nd 1km warranty!

Neil

[NW71]

To break her 6 year old average distance per sol ... she will need to cover 156.46 metres during that drive.

And it appears she has! If the reports on the post conjunction thread are correct Oppy travelled 121m + 41m on sol 2645 = 162 m

This means she beats her previous average by just 2mm per sol!

Neil

[NW71]

For those of us of a statistical bent today's drive may be yet another significant one for Opportunity as it might have reached 31,788m on sol 2649. If so, this would see her break the 12m per sol barrier. If not today it would appear to be only a matter of time until she does, but it could be her final barrier.

With Cape York and all the other wonders of Endeavour Crater now approximately only 1.5kms away it would appear unlikely that this record will be greatly extended again before we become engrossed in the scientific investigation of Spirit Point and beyond.

Neil