Run For The Hills!, The flight to Winter Quarters... Options

[sattrackpro]

It seems it might be time to start a post about the run to the hills... there are few days left to get Spirit to a winter-friendly spot somewhere up there - with all those tempting spots that we ~might~ be able to stop by on the way. That is - if we don't dally too long at each!

A discussion of what the best spot would be, and why it would be the best spot seems in order - along with what the best targets on the way would be interesting.

I'm looking forward to the possibility that we'll have a chance to see several outcrops that appear to have layers, maybe similar in some respects to HP. Or will they be?

I'm also looking forward to the possibility that we might get a look from the top of these hills, off to the South as winter ends, before we descend from the hills and head to the "Promised Land."

Later I'll post some snips of locations I'm hoping to see up-close... thought I'd get it done on posting - but, just had an 'emergency' that demands quick departure!

[Tesheiner]

I think I'll be the first to use this new thread...

Sol 766 drive images are available at the exploratorium: http://nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2006-02-28/


And the answer to the drive-direction is "clockwise". My guess is Spirit will NOT complete the circle but simply head to McCool hill.

Was there a song from Iron Maiden: "Run to the hills, run for you life" ?

[mhoward]

Here's some views from Sol 766 (I'd set it to "On the Run" by Pink Floyd, maybe):



Here are the Pancam drive direction images in context (Tesheiner you can correct me if I'm wrong and they aren't drive direction images, as I didn't actually check the tracking database, but it seems like a pretty safe bet):

[Bill Harris]

The Winter Retreat to a favorable slope is not necessarily a bad thing. There are several exposures on McCool Hill which might be related to HP and would be good to examine. In order to decipher HP we need to look at the lateral extent of the HP deposits. I wish we had the time to have stopped at the light-toned layered outcrop on the hill just south of Ultreya-ElDorado Basin: that may have been part of the HP Formation. And from atop McCool Hill we can get another set of Pancams from a different perspective.

I'm thinking move northeastward the north-facing slope of McCool Hill, work that slope during the Winter, moving southward along McH later in Winter and work down the western slope of McH, returning to HP in the Spring for followup observations. Over the Summer drive toward the Promised Land locality

I'll work up a map later tonight when I get home.

--Bill

[Ant103]

Winter will come around the month of May or April?
But, at the date of the passage from Autumn to Winter, the Sun will be at the nearest point to the horizon.
So Spirit need to run now if the engineer want to keep the rover in a good state of electric power, 'cause the Sun is now near of the south horizon.

[ToSeek]

"Now run away before I taunt you a second time!"

[helvick]

Winter will come around the month of May or April?

Southern Hemisphere mid winter on Mars happens on Spirit Sol 924 which is the 8th of August. The date of minimal insolation actually happens 11 or 12 sols earlier around Sol 912 (27 August).

The effects of mars orbital eccentricity and latitude mean that Opportunity's minimim insolation date is around a week earlier on Opportunity Sol 884\885 (20 August).

[Bob Shaw]

"Now run away before I taunt you a second time!"

"Let us leave Home Plate; it is a Silly Place!"

Bob 'Ni' Shaw

[elakdawalla]

Here's some views from Sol 766 (I'd set it to "On the Run" by Pink Floyd, maybe):

I heartily concur with the soundtrack choice!

--Emily

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

I heartily concur with the soundtrack choice!

Yeah, Pink Floyd's music is well-suited to planetary exploration. As I recall, the Galileo team played some tracks from Dark Side of the Moon during the two Earth/Moon flybys.

And I once saw an animation of a Mars airplane concept with "Learning to Fly" played in the background. It was pretty cool.

[SigurRosFan]

And I once saw an animation of a Mars airplane concept with "Learning to Fly" played in the background. It was pretty cool.

By Tom Petty, or?

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

By Tom Petty, or?

Pink Floyd.

[imipak]

Here's some views from Sol 766 (I'd set it to "On the Run" by Pink Floyd, maybe):

Great images (and the new technique looks really nice!)

The voice in 'On The Run' says "live for today - no tomorrow!" which is a touch nihilistic for me (though the paranoid electronic throbbing is about right!) OTOH... 'Run' by New Order? "Well what's the use in complaining / When you've got what you don't need?" ...'cos I bet it's a bit more than 7x more disk space that's been filled with Mars images than would have been the case if the rover'd died when expected. I keep reminding myself to be grateful even when the Exploratorium is down.

[Nirgal]

Here's some views from Sol 766 (I'd set it to "On the Run" by Pink Floyd, maybe):

Here are the Pancam drive direction images in context (Tesheiner you can correct me if I'm wrong and they aren't drive direction images, as I didn't actually check the tracking database, but it seems like a pretty safe bet):

Micheal, your great panorama work is getting better and better !
I like your images especially for the more "dynamic look" of your projection techique
compared to the usual autostitch-look
And with your new vignetting reduction, it's even better ... great stuff

[odave]

The voice in 'On The Run' says "live for today - no tomorrow!"

If we want to stick with Floyd, there's "Run Like Hell", but I wouldn't want to see Spirit sent back to Steve in a cardboard box.

How about Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down a Dream":

Yeah running down a dream
That never would come to me
Working on a mystery
Going wherever it leads
Running down a dream