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(Trying to) Leave WH3 Behind
mhoward
post Feb 28 2009, 01:33 AM
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Yeah, "definite maybe" on the sneaky eastern route, I'd say. Will be real interesting to see if she can do it, though. I just hope it's less painful to watch than the last attempt. blink.gif



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Hungry4info
post Feb 28 2009, 02:35 AM
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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?


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dvandorn
post Feb 28 2009, 04:11 AM
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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


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mhoward
post Feb 28 2009, 04:31 AM
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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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Tesheiner
post Feb 28 2009, 08:16 AM
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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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Stu
post Feb 28 2009, 10:52 AM
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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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fredk
post Feb 28 2009, 03:47 PM
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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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BrianL
post Feb 28 2009, 03:55 PM
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Yes, that's a great perspective. The west route seems much more appealing having seen this.
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MarkG
post Feb 28 2009, 08:37 PM
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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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RoverDriver
post Feb 28 2009, 09:59 PM
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QUOTE (BrianL @ Feb 28 2009, 07:55 AM) *
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


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mhoward
post Mar 1 2009, 12:14 AM
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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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Ipparchus
post Mar 1 2009, 12:08 PM
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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.
wheel.gif
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djellison
post Mar 1 2009, 01:11 PM
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QUOTE (Ipparchus @ Mar 1 2009, 12:08 PM) *
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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ngunn
post Mar 1 2009, 01:31 PM
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QUOTE (Ipparchus @ Mar 1 2009, 12:08 PM) *
I also believe that Von Braun would be a perfect Winter Haven


Last winter the desired tilt was obtained by driving down off Home Plate, a move which proved immpossible to reverse. Getting to a steep perch from above looks more problematic at von Braun.
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HughFromAlice
post Mar 1 2009, 02:08 PM
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QUOTE (dvandorn @ Feb 28 2009, 01:41 PM) *
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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