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Extricating Spirit, Digging out from Troy
Stu
post Nov 12 2009, 05:47 PM
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http://www.nasa.gov/news/media/newsaudio/index.html


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fredk
post Nov 12 2009, 05:50 PM
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Great new topographic map of Scamander Crater at the very bottom of the list of briefing images:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news...el20091110.html
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sgendreau
post Nov 12 2009, 06:32 PM
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A synopsis of anything new would be much much appreciated by we who can't access at work. smile.gif

Go, Spirit, go, Spirit, go Spirit go!
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climber
post Nov 12 2009, 06:33 PM
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Most single stricking picture of the conf:
Attached Image



Edited, sorry Fredk, same image as your link but can't remove it now.


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Stu
post Nov 12 2009, 06:42 PM
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Emily's Tweeting it...

"What mired Spirit: left wheels broke through duricrust covering soft-sand-filled crater. Right wheels outside crater. "


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briv1016
post Nov 12 2009, 06:43 PM
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Flash was successfully reformatted yesterday; first drive command is Monday/Tuesday.
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Stu
post Nov 12 2009, 06:45 PM
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Spirit MIGHT be stuck here for good...

Monday = drive attempt

Efforts to continue until Feb when there's a review...

Plan = follow tracks back out...

1st drive Mon: plan = 5m worth of wheel turns... commands sent Mon night/Tues a.m, data due back later Tuesday...


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Stu
post Nov 12 2009, 06:47 PM
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"Still a lot of science can be done at this location..."

"Ability to do crude seismometry..."


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PDP8E
post Nov 12 2009, 06:50 PM
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1st attempt: straighten out the wheels and then drive out in the ruts Spirit made on the drive in; start Late Monday / Early Tuesday (jpl time?), get info back: Tuesday

then take a day to see what is going on and re-plan...

Its going to be really exciting around here over the next week or two!

Cheers



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nprev
post Nov 12 2009, 07:01 PM
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Hmmm. That map of Scamander really says it all. They pretty much have to try backing out. Sliding downslope is not an option, it's a rover-sized sand trap.

Re the wheel slewing: Is this Paolo's "sidewinder mode" (rotating the wheels while moving them from side to side)?


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climber
post Nov 12 2009, 07:05 PM
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QUOTE (climber @ Nov 12 2009, 10:01 AM) *
Assuming Troy is "inside" a crater, I'll choose to drive on the "rims" of the craters to come whatever main direction will be selected.

It's basicaly what Ray Ardvinson's saying at this time !!!


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ustrax
post Nov 12 2009, 07:14 PM
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What a Monday on the horizon... smile.gif
Cross your fingers until you get cramps!


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fredk
post Nov 12 2009, 07:20 PM
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Some very interesting discussion of Belly Rock. One of the big concerns they have, which I hadn't heard before, was that the rock may get caught in one of a couple of notches or depressions on the belly. If it did, then presumably the rover would be stuck, if the rock was firmly embedded in the ground. They said the notches are a few cm in size, and that they are near the front edge of the belly. So that's another reason they want to drive forwards (northwards). If they backed up, the rock could get caught in one of the notches.

They also stressed they'll try to keep Belly Rock away from the rover centre of mass. But they didn't say where their MI imaging says the rock is now - closer to the front or the back. (Obviously near the back would be best.)

Other reasons for driving straight forwards are that going backwards would mean having to break through surface crust, so backtracking avoids that extra work. Also going backwards means climbing uphill.
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fredk
post Nov 12 2009, 07:30 PM
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One more bit of info (which also appeared in a new New Scientist article, was that with current dust levels, Spirit might just be able to survive another winter stuck in Troy. So another dust storm without any cleaning could do her in. Another good reason to get mobile.
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centsworth_II
post Nov 12 2009, 07:31 PM
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Good briefing, lots of new details.

I liked the description of Spirit sitting right on a boundary between the highest sulfate level material found by either rover under the left wheel and basaltic material under the right wheel. The sulfur material being the soft, light material on the crater (down slope) side of the rover. Also the vertical changes from the surface of the duricrust to lower in the crust to beneath the crust showing water processes that occurred since volcanic activity in the area ceased.

I don't remember the danger of the belly rock being caught in a engineering depression in the underbelly being brought up before. One reason for driving forward rather than backward. I think that depression is visible in the underbelly images to the left of the belly rock's tip.

The detailed description of what occurred in the last days before halting driving operations was interesting. I found it encouraging that the (middle?) wheel stall seems to have not reoccurred when that wheel was tested. Also, the extraction maneuver, straight forward, is a maneuver that was not previously tried when the rover first became mired. A fresh maneuver leaves room for fresh hope... for me. Also good is the rover was still making progress when the driving was halted and was not just spinning its wheels. The progress was, however, in the down slope direction which is no longer considered a good idea, which is why the wheels were straightened for a straight forward drive.
edit: To clarify, the rover was going backwards toward Von Brun when it stopped. So a forward drive will be heading back in the direction it came from.


My fantasy: The wheels catch traction on some buried rocks and Tuesday morning images show the rover popped out and looking back at Belly Rock. laugh.gif
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