(Trying to) Leave WH3 Behind |
(Trying to) Leave WH3 Behind |
Feb 28 2009, 01:33 AM
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#136
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 3431 Joined: 11-August 04 From: USA Member No.: 98 |
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Feb 28 2009, 02:35 AM
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#137
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1414 Joined: 26-July 08 Member No.: 4270 |
A question about Spirit.
Are there any long term plans to make her go anywhere? She seems to be hanging out at Home Plate all the time. Is moving her too away from the north-facing slopes risky enough to ground her in the area? -------------------- -- Hungry4info (Sirius_Alpha)
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Feb 28 2009, 04:11 AM
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#138
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
My understanding as to why Spirit has not moved much beyond Home Plate is that it's the result of two major factors:
- The loss of the RF wheel, the dragging of which makes it difficult for Spirit to move very far in any one drive, and impossible to climb very much or move through loose, sandy soil. In other words, Spirit can't move very fast or very far in a given period of time. - The severe loss of power following the global dust storm Spirit barely survived a while back has made it very difficult for her to do much of anything beyond sit quietly and talk to Earth every few days. We've just recently seen some very minor cleaning, but the old girl is still running at less than 300 watt-hours a day, with precious little energy for extensive driving. Spirit was hobbled by the loss of the wheel shortly after finishing its first major recon of Home Plate, and dust deposition since then has conspired with now-impassable terrain to keep her from moving very far afield since. -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Feb 28 2009, 04:31 AM
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#139
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 3431 Joined: 11-August 04 From: USA Member No.: 98 |
They are still trying to get to the interesting features to the south of Home Plate, as far as I've heard. They haven't had much luck getting anywhere so far, due to the issues other Doug mentions. Let's hope that changes. Fingers crossed on this new route they may try next. I have a good feeling about it.
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Feb 28 2009, 08:16 AM
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#140
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 4279 Joined: 19-April 05 From: .br at .es Member No.: 253 |
Here's a picture of the current situation.
The background mosaic was taken long time ago, during sols 768-769, when Spirit moved on top of Home Plate on her way to McCool Hill. Those plans would be changed a few weeks later when the RF wheel failed... I overlayed on it some of the latest sites (in red/yellow) and what I think will be the path around the NE corner (in cyan). I have not clear if they will try to climb HP when back at Silica Valley or if the idea is to do a short cut right at the corner as proposed by MarkG. |
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Feb 28 2009, 10:52 AM
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#141
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Love the detail on the ground in this new 3D image... particularly love the way the dust has piled up around and inbetween the rocks at bottom left...
http://stugallery.wordpress.com/2009/02/28/rocks-and-dust -------------------- |
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Feb 28 2009, 03:47 PM
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#142
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4246 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 152 |
Thanks a lot for that view from atop HP, Tesheiner. That really clarifies the situation. Together with mhoward's anaglyph pan, we can see that we do still have a bit of a climb to get around the NE corner of HP.
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Feb 28 2009, 03:55 PM
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#143
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Member Group: Members Posts: 530 Joined: 21-March 06 From: Canada Member No.: 721 |
Yes, that's a great perspective. The west route seems much more appealing having seen this.
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Feb 28 2009, 08:37 PM
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#144
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Member Group: Members Posts: 146 Joined: 31-October 08 Member No.: 4473 |
I'm not so jazzed about the West route. If you look at the pictures of when Spirit was overlooking that area, a lot of that area has dust/sand dunes, and the rover might dig in there, even if going downhill. An impression-by-looks seems like it might have soft spots.
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Feb 28 2009, 09:59 PM
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#145
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Member Group: Admin Posts: 976 Joined: 29-September 06 From: Pasadena, CA - USA Member No.: 1200 |
Yes, that's a great perspective. The west route seems much more appealing having seen this. One big advantage of the western route is that we have surface imaging for almost the entire route to VB. The drawback is that those images show that there are some quite narrow passages and several potential sand traps. The eastern route, if traversable, has the advantage to lead to a known onramp on top of HP, an area that we have traversed extensively. From the sE tip of HP there are several potential paths to VB but some of them are difficult to image. So there are no sure winners here. Each one has some potential show stoppers. This is ike a good thriller, and while we are the writers, we still have no clue on its ending. Paolo -------------------- Disclaimer: all opinions, ideas and information included here are my own,and should not be intended to represent opinion or policy of my employer.
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Mar 1 2009, 12:14 AM
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#146
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 3431 Joined: 11-August 04 From: USA Member No.: 98 |
As an experiment, here's an anaglyph QuickTime VR (3.7 MB) of the sol 768 Navcam view. (Caution: prolonged viewing may cause headache, nausea.) It's pretty easy to pick out where we are now using Tesheiner's excellent, helpful mosaic of the same view.
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Mar 1 2009, 12:08 PM
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#147
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 44 Joined: 25-February 08 From: Greece, Komotini Member No.: 4055 |
I `d like to propose a route for Spirit that, I think, could possibly be the the best choice for her to arrive to Goddard and Von Braun easier, faster and safer. After driving east and climbing on the ramp she used on sol 1306 to arrive on Home Plate, she could easily and fast drive on the good terrain of HP and arrive to the south edge where she could find a good ramp (a low-tilt slope) to drive down to the interesting South Promontory, study it, and then continue south (carefully avoiding the dune fields and the dust-rich areas) until she reaches Goddard and then Von Braun (the whole route is represented with a red line).
I think it would be better to study Goddard first because: a.) if the next Winter Haven is going to be the top of Von Braun then it would not be logical to go to Von Braun , then to Goddard and again to Von Braun (much more road than needed, for nothing), b.) Goddard seems to be a more interesting target than Von Braun (HP and Von Braun seem to be made of the same material, but Goddard is a unique geological feature), so if something bad happens and Spirit “dies” soon, it would be prefered to have studied Goddard at least. I also believe that Von Braun would be a perfect Winter Haven because: a.) some north-facing parts of it have a great tilt that Spirit needs for the next winter and b.) the top of it is made of solid rock and that makes it a “warm” place (rock preserves environmental heat longer than soil), appropriate to be a Winter Haven. She could get there before winter comes, after studying Goddard, and study its rock layers as long as her energy levels allow (because of the incoming winter). Please, tell me your opinions about my proposed route and Winter Haven. I would be grateful to have, also, a comment from Paolo, the Rover Driver. -------------------- "It`s one small step for a man. A giant leap for all mankind!" Armstrong, Apollo 11, 1969.
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Mar 1 2009, 01:11 PM
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#148
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14431 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
After driving east and climbing on the ramp she used on sol 1306 to arrive on Home Plate, she could easily and fast drive on the good terrain of HP and arrive to the south edge where she could find a good ramp (a low-tilt slope) to drive down That's the plan. If it doesn't work - they'll try the west route. |
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Mar 1 2009, 01:31 PM
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#149
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
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Mar 1 2009, 02:08 PM
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#150
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Member Group: Members Posts: 237 Joined: 22-December 07 From: Alice Springs, N.T. Australia Member No.: 3989 |
the old girl is still running at less than 300 watt-hours a day. -the other Doug 300 watt-hours a day AND driving with a jammed wheel. I have to keep pinching myself - Phenomenal what has been learned and how much the rover teams have achieved!!!!!! I'm wondering about the longer the dust remains on the panels - will it start (chemically) bonding into a layer of grime (for want of a better word) that gets harder to remove over time? Hope not. Hope those transient cleaning event winds can blow most of it off. |
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