To the Cape!, Quackmire and arm troubles Options

[climber]

Plus, SS said they're going there

[fredk]

Remember that the sun has been sinking lower in the north while we've been stationary here, so presumably it's gotten harder to approach close to Verde. Of course there's good reason to just get closer and image with pancam.

I've also been wondering about the trap that caught them here. It was not apparent before driving into it. How can they deal with this? Perhaps by following the outcrop north before dropping east closer to the cliff. They could certainly drive to Verde without trouble - the problem will be driving back up!

If these drivers are go for approach, so am I.

[fredk]

Another drive attempt on sol 1552 - not much progress made; we seem to be mostly just rotating about our left side:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...BAP1314R0M1.JPG

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...BAP1214R0M1.JPG

Strange, the front wheels don't appear to be embedded in the soil. Perhaps the middle wheels are now stuck in something.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...B6P1242L0M1.JPG

Lots of subframe images from the hazcams.....

I don't like seeing subframes from the hazcams, they always make me nervous.

[peter59]

Oppy is free, I hope.
forward hazcam
rear hazcam

[Aussie]

Now that is an unusual...thingy. (pointed out by 'Mann' on the yellow forum).

From the shadow it appears tubular with apparent structural rings? No bounce marks so not a rover part (thank goodness). Optical illusion? Any ideas? If nothing springs immediately to mind then a detour to have a quick look would be an attractive possibility. Hope Hoaxland doesn't notice it.

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...AHP2261L7M1.JPG

[climber]

Doesn't look like an optical illusion. Seams to be sitting there instead of burried.
Can someone pointed out its location?

[Tesheiner]

Oppy is free, I hope.

Almost, I would say. Last drive was executed in five steps and slippage was detected in all of them. But while the slip factor was in the 90% range on previous extraction attempts, yestersol it was: 79%, 84%, 76%, 64%, and 47%.
I wasn't doing these calculations before she got stuck here so I don't know if that 50% slip factor can be considered as "nominal" or not. But in any case it shows the trend observed on Purgatory (and similar).

Can someone pointed out its location?

MMB would be perfect, but I don't have it on this computer.

[Aussie]

Doesn't look like an optical illusion. Seams to be sitting there instead of burried.
Can someone pointed out its location?

Hortonheardawho did a great job locating it in context.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hortonheardawho/2567159743/

He also did a 3-D that really makes it an interesting item

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hortonheardaw...in/photostream/

[Tesheiner]

Ok. Here's a post of mine with a 360º navcam mosaic taken from almost the same position: http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&p=113712
The "little thing" can be seen on the soil on the general direction of Cabo Frio.

And here's the original image: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...ABP1928L0M1.JPG.
It's near the bottom right corner.

[climber]

Distance to Oppy ?

[Tesheiner]

About 4 meters (based on the route map).

Here's another navcam picture (sol 1418) looking to the same area but from the opposite side but I can't distinguish "it" on the picture. A pancam would be nice however I can't find any.
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...84P1785L0M3.JPG

[Tman]

It's odd that nothing is visible in the navcam from sol 1418. The pebbles close-by can you pinpoint.
If it is a part from the rover, it may be such lightweight that it left no visible track.

[ngunn]

'Obviously' a screw cap of some sort. Only one question: is it from the sun cream or the midge repellant?