4th leg in the trek to Endeavour, After science stop @ Kasos Options

[centsworth_II]

I wonder if Opportunity will do any IDD work to explore the composition of the light material?

I certainly would be good to have something interesting and useful to do during a lengthy rest stop.

(If we're starting a powder vs bedrock debate , put me down for powder -- I hope it's not just wishful thinking.)

[Shaka]

I'm wishing for the same thing, Cents, but after so many miles of bedrock without a speck of 'powder', I have to play the percentages.

[marsophile]

Since we seem to be stopped in "DuneLand" for a while, perhaps we should investigate a dune a little more closely. We could perhaps penetrate a dune with the IDD and do some work inside the dune and/or at the point of penetration. Or would this possibly damage the arm?

[Floyd]

You don't use the IDD for poking. But hey, when was the last time Opportunity dug a good trench? Lets dig down and see what's really there.

[imipak]

I wonder if Opportunity will do any IDD work to explore the composition of the light material?

Surely, yes. It's the first such white material Oppy's encountered, and it's obviously a very different environment from Home Plate, so we surely have to find out what it is / how it got here, even if there aren't any implications for future drives. How cool that novel observations are still turning up!

[Tesheiner]

It seems that this site was considered not relevant because Opportunity left the area. There was a drive yestersol (1912) moving the rover 70+ further south.

[BrianL]

So, as I understand it, this is where we sit and wait to see whether Oppy turns on her left or right turn signal indicator? Good to see some chatter in the other thread about the possible choices. It's been pretty quiet in the back seat for awhile.

[fredk]

I think we've seen similar "white powder" on Meridiani before. I'm still skeptical it really was "white powder" - it could've been reflectivity rather than albedo.

But we did sit there resting the RF wheel for 6 sols, so maybe they decided the wheel could now survive a couple of sols' drive to the bedrock and then we'll do a longer science stop there?

[eoincampbell]

Surely trench digging will not be considered given the precocious state of the RF wheel.

[djellison]

Could always use the FL. I'd expect us to do 1 - 2 more drives to get to the next bit of outcrop before having some down-time to make the decision between left and right.

[eoincampbell]

I wonder about the extent of the "wear" on the other wheels, (not too far behind RF?) that would determine a "go for trenching".
I thought we would trade the digging(more resistance?) for driving at this stage...

[djellison]

The other wheels are all reporting normal currents.

[Tesheiner]

I'd expect us to do 1 - 2 more drives to get to the next bit of outcrop before having some down-time to make the decision between left and right.

I would expect that too but the plan for tosol has some MIs so perhaps we will be stopped here for some time.

[ngunn]

. . as stated in post 60, no?

[SpaceListener]

As of Sol 1912 (June 10, 2009), Opportunity's solar array energy production is 431 watt-hours. Atmospheric opacity (tau) is 0.589. The dust factor is 0.549, indicating that 54.9 percent of sunlight hitting the solar array penetrates the layer of accumulated dust on the array. Opportunity's total odometry is 16,569.05 meters (10.3 miles).

The Oppy has by far less watt-hours than Spirit.

There is increasing the concern on the RF which is increasing the wheel current.

More reading

Is there any way to improve the lubrication on the RF? Will the summer time, with the increasing heat might help to improve the lubrication on the wheels?