Opportunity Route Map Options

[Tesheiner]

Route map, updated to sol 747 and including some additional "ground features".

(239k)

[MizarKey]

I'm not sure exactly when it happened but according to the official MER site Spirit is back in the total distance lead! Come on Oppy, get the lead out!

Spirit: As of sol 762 (Feb. 23, 2006), Spirit's total odometry was 6,589.83 meters (4.09 miles).

Oppy: As of sol 742 (Feb. 24, 2006), Opportunity's total odometry was 6553.93 meters (4.07 miles).

[CosmicRocker]

Sports Announcer: "As they round the bend Opportunity is in the lead...No, Spirit has jumped ahead! Now, they're neck-and-neck, heading for the finish line. It's Oppy...it's Spirit...it's Oppy...It's Spirit! It's anyone's guess at this point! Each rover has it's own motivations. Each has their own amazing accomplishments at this point in the race. You can see the fire in their eyes. Opportunity can see the finish line, but where is it for Spirit? Which will emerge triumphant in the end? ............. We must pause for this commercial break."

In the end, whenever that may be, we all win.

[edstrick]

it's ....
.................. BEETLEBOMB!

[Bob Shaw]

Sports Announcer: "As they round the bend Opportunity is in the lead...No, Spirit has jumped ahead! Now, they're neck-and-neck, heading for the finish line. It's Oppy...it's Spirit...it's Oppy...It's Spirit! It's anyone's guess at this point! Each rover has it's own motivations. Each has their own amazing accomplishments at this point in the race. You can see the fire in their eyes. Opportunity can see the finish line, but where is it for Spirit? Which will emerge triumphant in the end? ............. We must pause for this commercial break."

In the end, whenever that may be, we all win.

"But wait! What's this? Scurrying out from beneath the wheels of Opportunity, bravely battling still, it's... ...Sojourner! Yes! Sojourner is in the lead, pushing ahead by just one length of her APXS! Yes! Yes! Sojoooooooooourner!"

Well, sadly not, but let's not forget the little guy!

Bob Shaw

[Guest_Oersted_*]

Well, let's not forget the TRUE pioneer rovers, the Lunokhods of the USSR.

Lunokhod 1 did 10,540 m. on the moon in 1970, Lunokhod 2 in 1973 did 37 kilometers!!!!

Yes, that's 37,000 meters.... - in 1973!

That will be a hard target to beat: Let's hope the Mars roving laboratory will do it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunokhod_program

[RNeuhaus]

Well, let's not forget the TRUE pioneer rovers, the Lunokhods of the USSR.

Lunokhod 1 did 10,540 m. on the moon in 1970, Lunokhod 2 in 1973 did 37 kilometers!!!!

Yes, that's 37,000 meters.... - in 1973!

That will be a hard target to beat: Let's hope the Mars roving laboratory will do it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunokhod_program

This is true and perhaps, the surprising thing is that no one knows exactly where is located Lunokhod I. Stokes is helping to Russians to localize it, hope it would be soon. Here, we have map route of every sol for both MER rovers and we are truly know about their positions. Let think what adventourous is Lunkhood I with its 10,540 meters without knowning where it was on the Moon.

Rodolfo

[Bob Shaw]

Well, let's not forget the TRUE pioneer rovers, the Lunokhods of the USSR.

Lunokhod 1 did 10,540 m. on the moon in 1970, Lunokhod 2 in 1973 did 37 kilometers!!!!

Yes, that's 37,000 meters.... - in 1973!

That will be a hard target to beat: Let's hope the Mars roving laboratory will do it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunokhod_program

"Wait! What's this! Still attached to Mars-3 by it's (fortunately highly elastic tether), racing ahead of even Sojourner is the Mars-3 Rover, now leading by the tip of it's small (but perfectly formed) penetrometer!"

Bob Shaw

[Phil Stooke]

Please note that the Lunokhod-2 page linked to above repeats the common error that Lunokhod-2's laser reflector cannot be used. In fact it is Lunokhod-1 whose reflector has not been detected since the end of the mission. Efforts are in progress to reacquire it using a new instrument on Earth and a new estimate of its location.

...and for fast driving, Lunokhod-2 was driven over 3 km (3130 m) in one work shift! (18 February 1973).

Phil

[ToSeek]

I'm not sure exactly when it happened but according to the official MER site Spirit is back in the total distance lead! Come on Oppy, get the lead out!

Spirit: As of sol 762 (Feb. 23, 2006), Spirit's total odometry was 6,589.83 meters (4.09 miles).

Oppy: As of sol 742 (Feb. 24, 2006), Opportunity's total odometry was 6553.93 meters (4.07 miles).

Looks like it happened during Spirit's 46-meter drive on Sol 743 (February 4). Of course, Opportunity was doing very little while Spirit came down off the summit and made its way to Home Plate. But you've got to expect that Oppi will re-establish a big lead when it's cruising to Victoria while Spirit is wintering on the hillside.

[RNeuhaus]

Please note that the Lunokhod-2 page linked to above repeats the common error that Lunokhod-2's laser reflector cannot be used. In fact it is Lunokhod-1 whose reflector has not been detected since the end of the mission. Efforts are in progress to reacquire it using a new instrument on Earth and a new estimate of its location.

...and for fast driving, Lunokhod-2 was driven over 3 km (3130 m) in one work shift! (18 February 1973).

Phil

The Lunkhod rover had two speeds, ~1 km/h and ~2 km/h (0.62 mph and 1.24 mph) versus MER's with 5 cms/sec (180 m/hour at maximum and constant speed). But it is not possible since MER is programmed to drive for roughly 10 seconds, then stop to observe and understand the terrain it has driven into for 20 seconds, before moving safely onward for another 10 seconds.

The mission of Lunokhod-x aren't so geologic as the MER doing with 7 instruments against only our television cameras, and special extendable devices to impact the lunar soil for soil density and mechanical property tests. An x-ray spectrometer, an x-ray telescope, cosmic-ray detectors, and a laser device were also included.

Lunokhod was driven almost in real time, with between 2-3 lag seconds (velocity of light is 300,000 km/sec and the distance between Earth and Moon is in average 385,000 km and the round trip would be of 770,000 km) against to MER with batch command driven and/or coupled with hazard avoindance navigation system which is by far much slow and also the other favourable for speed is that Lunokhod was closer to the Sun which powered twice energy to the solar cells than MER. So it is like comparing between apples and pears.

Rodolfo

[David]

the other favourable for speed is that Lunokhod was closer to the Sun which powered twice energy to the solar cells than MER. So it is like comparing between apples and pears.

Lunokhod was long before my time and I know practically nothing about it. How did the Lunokhods survive the two-week-long lunar night -- or were their missions shorter than that?

[Big_Gazza]

Lunokhod was long before my time and I know practically nothing about it. How did the Lunokhods survive the two-week-long lunar night -- or were their missions shorter than that?

The Lunokhods (Ye-8 Soviet designation) had a Polonium-210 radiological heat source used to maintain internal temperature (though electric power was via batteries charged thru solar arrays). Check out the following if you're keen.

[email=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/lunokhod.htm]http://www.astronautix.com/craft/lunokhod.htm[/email]

Would I be correct in assuming that the Viking landers did something similar - ie use the RTGs waste heat to ward off the cold of the Martian night?

[edstrick]

Vikings did use RTG heat, probably also a few powered heaters.
Note that VL-2 Survived ***AND*** operated during the northern winter at 48 deg north, far enough north that water ice frost patches formed on much of the soil around the lander. <air temps were well above plausible values for the frost to be CO2>

[Guest_Oersted_*]

So it is like comparing between apples and pears.

Rodolfo

Yes, and I'm in no way trying to diminish the Mars rovers. We just have to remember that the Lunokhods were the pioneering space rovers, and an amazing accomplishment with 1970's Russian technology. - And they still have the odometry record...