Post Marquette Island, The continuing journey to Endeavour Crater Options

[climber]

Of course I will never forget the first glimpse of Victoria.

Neither David B. will

[ustrax]

I love the suspense of these approaches.

I'm with you there Dan...remember the time?
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre...e-B081R1_br.jpg
http://midnightmarsbrowser.blogspot.com/20...ia-in-view.html

Rove!!!

[fredk]

As ngunn said, Conception is about a metre or so higher than here, so we should have a better view from there (at least if we can clamber up onto the rim). But I don't think we'll see more of Iazu than we have in the past (on sol 1987, eg, we had a great view).

What intrigues me most is whether we may start to see completely new features to the south and SW. There are some hills to the S-SSW, and Bopolu Crater to the SW. Both are farther than Iazu, but with the air clear I think geography will be the limiting factor.

[Stu]

Quick reminder of just where we are...



I know I've stuck up for stopping and studying meteorites and rocks recently, and I always will, if one presents itself for our rover to investigate, but I'm enjoying the anticipation of seeing new things on the horizon too. It's an almost primal thing, isn't it? How many people here love being on ships just so they can stand outside, leaning against the railings, looking out to sea, waiting to glimpse a line of land on the horizon? Or go hill climbing, and aren't happy until they reach the summit and can see the next hill, and the one beyond that? As babies we fight and struggle to stand and see our new world from a couple of feetb higher. As kids we climb trees so we can look out over the park and see the houses beyond. Older, we seek out top floor restaurants to dine in, and pay to ride on big wheels, for the view. And that's what makes following the missions of Spirit and Oppy so exciting and exhilarating. We're all standing together on the deck of a virtual ship, sailing over the martian dune seas, looking out for the next wonder to appear on the horizon.

This is a golden time, my friends. A golden time.

[charborob]

Well said, Stu.

[Phil Stooke]

Our eager anticipators may find this interesting:

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2010/pdf/2638.pdf

It includes a map of the projected way ahead, with contours - it can stand some enlargement, don't just view it at 100%. It seems that within 1 km or so Opportunity will crest the top of a local ridge and look out over a substantial downward slope. The views won't change at Conception, but they will only a few weeks after that.

Phil

[Floyd]

Very good information. Thanks for the link Phil.

[Stu]

That's quite a droolsome prospect Phil...!

[Phil Stooke]

Just try not to dribble on me!

Phil

[Tesheiner]

Hey! That's a really good piece of info. Thanks Phil (and Tim53 too).
Also I have to say that each and every paragraph in section "Rover Localization" is familiar for me too.

[NW71]

Evening All.

As a first post please don't savage me if I'm missing something obvious/ say something stupid/waste all your valuable time!

I just wondered, especially given Spirit's ongoing wheel problems, if we had any information on how Opportunity's RF wheel is behaving on the journey from Marquette Island to Conception?

Neil

[Stu]

Welcome to UMSF, Neil! Hope you enjoy being here as much as we all do. You've joined at an exciting time, that's for sure!

[fredk]

Wow, that's a great find, Phil! It does look like we may have a "heck of a view" in another km or so. Hopefully we'll get a nice panorama to the south, including several Endurance-to-Victoria class craters in various stages of erosion, as well as the west rim of Endeavour. It's good to see "mini-Endurance" on the proposed route as well.

[fredk]

Looking at that map reminds me of an odd Victoria-sized crater to our south. The crater shares the cape-and-bay structure of Victoria, but what's odd about it is that it's quite elliptical. When I first saw it, I thought there was some mapping projection problem that distorted it from circular to elliptical. But looking at the map from this post for example, you can see other craters nearby that are circular. Here's a crop:

I guess it could be two overlapping craters, but maybe more likely is that the bays have eroded more deeply in some directions than in others.

[Marz]

Thanks, Phil. It'd be nice to get our hands on that topo map.

A few interesting quotes:

-- "The situation will start to improve within the next 2 kilometers, however, as Opportunity begins a descent down an 80m slope toward Endeavour crater, much of it containing broad outcrop exposures." It'll be exciting to see what changes occur as we go down slope, presumably where less deflation has occured so the bedrock might exhibit clearer indications of what conditions were like as it was deposited.

-- "[gravel pile] origin and preservation in isolated patches is as yet unknown, so future visits to these features, identified along the path ahead, are planned." I know we've speculated on what these piles are before; is there a summary of prevailing ideas?