Where would you go..?, ... if you could follow the rovers? Options

[Stu]

Ok, to help us all cool down a bit while we wait for software to upload and Oppy to reach The Edge, here's a question for you...

If you could click your fingers right now, and magically transport yourself to Mars, which of the many fascinating places Spirit or Opportunity has visited so far would you want to visit for yourself? Which feature would you like to reach out and touch in person? Which view would you like to see for yourself, eyes shielded from the Sun by your gloved hand?

And if you could have just one person there with you - maybe someone who you wish you could show Mars to, share your passion for it with, or hear their thoughts on the planet - who would it be..?

[Ant103]

That's a good question.

I don't know... If I can transport me near the rovers, I could want to go to Bonneville Crater and then go to the heat shield on the far rim. This piece should have dig the ground in 30 cm or more. I though that there are interesting things under the ground.
On the Oppy site, I could go to the rear shield and the parachute to examine the soils comportement under the capsule with the prolongated period of darkness. And after, go to Anatolia to verifying if there are cavity under the ground, and if there are thos features, taking speleologic equipement and explore the cavities.

[djellison]

I would sit here :
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre...-A603R1_br2.jpg
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre...-A625R1_br2.jpg

The everest outcrop atop Husband Hill. Nice spot to sit down - after a bit of a climb - to

Part of me would like to sit aside Endurance, but scientifically stunning though Meridiani has been, it just does not feel like the 'real' Mars that I've loved since I was a kid.

And obviously, I'd have to share it with Helen. She's put up with a lot being a card carrying mars-widow - but I know she'd enjoy the view...as long as it wasn't too cold

D

[DEChengst]

Standing in Endurance crater looking up to Burns cliff.

[odave]

I'd be on top of Husband Hill too. I grew up in one of the flattest parts of the midwest US, so Meridiani looks a little too much like home (minus the corn & bean fields, of course ) Since Spirit landed I've been entranced by the view of hills around her, and especially the shadowy rim of Gusev far off in the distance.

I have to admit that Spirit is my favorite rover, and when I saw those pictures of her dragging her bum wheel along, I started to get all teary

[john_s]

I'd like to stretch my legs and stride out over those plains. We know why the rovers must move so slowly but it's frustrating sometimes- it would be so great to just *go*, get some miles behind me in an hour or two.

After my hike, I'd like to sit at Larry's Lookout, or the rim of Endurance, and watch the sun go down.

[ustrax]

Making castles in El Dorado sandbox...

[fredk]

I've actually long imagined starting at the landers and retracing the rovers' journeys. This would be an easy afternoon stroll for both (so far, that is, unless they put on many more kms).

For Spirit I could do this even if the tracks had completely worn away, I know the route that well. For Oppy, it'd be tougher without tracks, given the sparcity of landmarks.

Of course I'd want to see things we missed: parachutes, Spirit's backshell, more Columbia peaks, complete the circumnavigation of Endurance.

Still, given the incredible imaging coverage of these missions (and with the help of the IMAX flick!), I think I can imagine pretty well what it would be like to be there. These very alien places have become very familiar.

[Guest_Oersted_*]

I'd hang my feet out over Burns Cliff. For alien landscapes, craters are the thing. Would of course much prefer Victoria, but who knows if we'll ever get there? (ducks and covers..)

[Stu]

Great answers so far, but I notice only one person has answered the second part of the question... who would you want to share that view with? They can be someone you know, or someone you don't know... someone living or dead, real or fictional...

[dot.dk]

Steve

[OWW]

Spirit: Home Plate. Running around it like mad.

Opportunity: Burns Cliff or Payson. Counting layers and layers and layers....

[Ant103]

Great answers so far, but I notice only one person has answered the second part of the question... who would you want to share that view with? They can be someone you know, or someone you don't know... someone living or dead, real or fictional...

Olivier de Goursac naturally

[Guest_Myran_*]

Good question, and if I can only pick one location my answer comes automatically. It would be Meridiani, flat as it is, its the place I would like to walk around and pick up one of those blueberry filled rocks, bang it against another rock to see if its as hard as plaster or perhaps a tad harder.
If I got someone with me, well it would be my friend whom I've shown images from Mars on almost a weekly basis, he's also the one who would be able to tell me if there really are Karst formations under the soft sand there.
If I allow a flight of the imagination and we also got some equipment like rope and lamps, well then we would take up some pickaxes and start to widen a hole so we could get down to see those older layers of the bedrock and fill our backpacks with samples from the earliest possible layer we can reach to bring back home.

[gregp1962]

I'd want to be atop Husband Hill like Doug said. Then, I'd descend and look for clues as to how the abyss got filled in by the time Spirit got there.

Somehow, the Ultreya 'Sandbox' sounds so much less mysterious and fascinating.