Spirit Route Map, Small and Large Scales Options

[djellison]

[Highwayman]

I'm a newbie here, but not enough of a "newbie" to appreciate the good work you do here. Great image. Looks like Spirit has it's work cut out for it. It would be cool if Spirit could get a good pic of it's heat shield inside that crater and perhaps some rock outcrops like Opportunity is looking at.

[djellison]

Added 21.6m for Sol 044

[djellison]

Updated to comply with a nasa release.

Doug

[remcook]

new picture:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre...-map-A061R1.jpg

[remcook]

[Guest_cassioli_*]

April 8th update

(Click here for zoom)

Luca

[gregp1962]

Is it possible to update these maps everyday?

[Guest_cassioli_*]

Is it possible to update these maps everyday?

I don't know, I just found the last one at NASA official Spirit site

But I read somewhere in a forum that NASA does not post maps daily, only once per week or less.

Luca

[slinted]

Besides maybe an image or two a day with the updates, they appear to only be releasing synthesized images in batches at the press conferences, which are now once ever two weeks. So, write 'em a letter requesting a daily route map, hopefully they get enough feedback to implement one.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

.....talking of updates, where have the new images from Spirit and Opportunity gone?

[Baltic]

.....talking of updates, where have the new images from Spirit and Opportunity gone?

They're here at last:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/

Tom

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

.....talking of updates, where have the new images from Spirit and Opportunity gone?

They're here at last:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/

Tom

They updated about 1 minute after i posted lol.

Some of the Spirit images could from Sol 102, Spirit travelled 64 m on sol 100, and was due to drive again on sol 101.

The images from pancam show a very different view, the rover could be approaching the second impact crater:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pa...00P2378R1M1.JPG

[djellison]

New Route Map for Spirit - it's travelled further in the last 15 sols than it did in the first 90
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre..._map_sol107.jpg

[Guest_cassioli_*]

New Route Map for Spirit - it's travelled further in the last 15 sols than it did in the first 90
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre..._map_sol107.jpg

Why not to show it?



big

BIGGER

Luca

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

New Route Map for Spirit - it's travelled further in the last 15 sols than it did in the first 90
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre..._map_sol107.jpg

I would guess Spirit has travlleed as much as 200m since that map was made, and may be perhaps halfway to "Lahontan Crater" by now.

[remcook]

[Guest_cassioli_*]

Opportunity sol 91


Luca

[Guest_cassioli_*]

New intersting 3d "path map" released:
map

Luca

[Guest_cassioli_*]

New map for Opportunity:



Luca

[Baltic]

Sorry, lousy picture quality. It's a snapshot from the flight director's update quicktime-movie.

Tom

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Baltic]

[djellison]

UBER version of the above

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...vmap-B140R1.jpg

Doug

[OWW]

Another fine map from sol 187:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre...map1-A190R1.jpg

And another from sol 238:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre...l238-A256R1.jpg

[azstrummer]

I wish JPL would put out a zoomed in map of the hils with their intended route on it. Last images I saw seemed to indicate Spirit is on the move again but it's hard to know where they're headed.

[djellison]

They're basically heading up the ridge toward Husband Hill. They've not made a lot of progress though - infact, as I read it -

Doing science
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...1121L0M1-BR.JPG

Backed up a bit
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...1212L0M1-BR.JPG

Turned left a bit
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...41P1201L0M1.JPG

Drove forward a bit
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...45P1212L0M1.JPG

Then forward a bit more

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/fo...45P1212L0M1.JPG




Doug

[Pando]

Here's the latest:

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[djellison]

Where do you find these Pando?

Doug

[Pando]

They are forwarded to me by a good friend. I can't really say much more than that

[djellison]

They are forwarded to me by a good friend. I can't really say much more than that

Well - whoever they're from - please send my very very sincere thanks on behalf of the whole forum. It's very much appreciated. The press may have forgotten that they're still hard at work, but we havnt, and we watch in complete awe!

Doug

[alan]

A look at where spirit has been. View from sol 149

[Gray]

Thanks alan,
This gives us a very different perspective. It looks like it's going to be a long climb.

[alan]

Spirit's path from Clovis

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

From space.com:

November 23

Mars Rover Spirit Takes a Brake

Busily surveying the Columbia Hills at Gusev Crater, NASA’s Spirit Mars Exploration Rover continues to suffer a bit of a “brake down.”

Rover drivers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California continue to deal with Spirit wheel and brake issues. While surpassing its original warranty, Spirit has intermittently sent information in recent weeks that the brakes on two wheels were not releasing properly when the rover received commands to set a new course.

Recent images relayed by Spirit’s navigation camera show in graphic detail what ground operators are dealing with. A westward view from the robot shows the effects of dragging its right front wheel, explained Leo Bister, Spirit mission manager.

The image shown here was taken on November 19, during Spirit’s 313th day of martian operations as the rover drove backwards for about 98 feet (30 meters) on the day the picture was taken, Bister confirmed to SPACE.com .

This type anomaly has not been observed on the Opportunity rover as it wheels around Endurance Crater on the other side of Mars.

-- Leonard David

[Pando]

I think they are completely wrong in that article. The dynamic braking problem is not the one causing for the wheel to drag through the soil.

The braking problem is related to the relay that locks the wheels during driving so the wheels won't turn or steer (not to be confused with rotating). They identified the issue as a faulty sensor on the relay, and are now ignoring it, so the problem is somewhat solved at this point.

The wheel dragging is a completely different problem. It's the wheel motor that rotates the wheel, and it is causing excessive current draw. The motor or the gears are starting to wear out and so they are dragging the wheel on purpose to spare the motor (or gears) as much as they can.

[OWW]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this all a bit of recycled 'news'? ( Except the 30 meters bit, didn't know that ). I hope the title should not be taken seriously... It has been three days since Spirit moved. Long weekend this time, or 'broken down'?

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

I think they're still moving:

21 Nov: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/fo...00P1110R0M1.JPG

23 Nov:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/fo...00P1214R0M1.JPG

[OWW]

Yes they are! Vrooommm vroomm:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/re...00P1310L0M1.JPG

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Nice NavCam image of where we've been:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/na...00P0745R0M1.JPG

[alan]

Vroom, vroom is right. New location, view from sol 149

[Pando]

How do you determine that Spirit is at the location marked 316? That seems pretty far away from the ridge and I don't think Spirit has got that far off its path.

I believe we are still close to the centerline on the ridge continuing straight towards Husband Hill...

[alan]

I found spirit's location in a nav cam image fron sol 310

then matched rocks in the panarama from 149

[alan]

From a long time ago and a position far, far away

[alan]

Thats odd, it worked in the preview.
Panorama from sol 149 again, fixed broken link.

[djellison]

From a long time ago and a position far, far away

NOW it makes sense - if they traversed straight up the ridge - they solar arrays would be orientated WNW. By going to the left edge of that image - then up along near the skyline - they're orientated N / NNW - much better from an energy point of view. Excellent work Alan!

[alan]

I'm really pushing the resolution on this orbital view

[azstrummer]

Boy, I think you're off here. That light patch that shows up in the SOL 316 picture is very close up. Were it the same one in the distant color pan shot, it would be huge and those rocks you point out wouldn't even be seen they're so small. My guess is that you're right up through around 305 or 306 but then the rover starts climbing to the East. I doubt you can even see the area it's in right now from that distant pan. But who knows? I could be very wrong. It's why we desperately need an overhead route map drawn by the engineers driving the rover.

[Pando]

I could be very wrong. It's why we desperately need an overhead route map drawn by the engineers driving the rover.

azstrummer, this is as close as you can get. Trust me. I also think alan is a bit off there. The rover is still on the north side of the ridge which is connecting the West Spur with Husband Hill.

[azstrummer]

That makes much more sense. In this pancam shot from Sol 315, the two "notches" on the hill ahead are clearly visible and if Spirit had gone north, the perspective would've been much different.

[alan]

JPL included headings in the navcam panorama for sol 313 so I did some triangulation.
This is what I came up with

[Pando]

Update: Spirit travel map until Sol 313

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Hmmmm... no drive again today, perhaps those wheel problems have become a bit more serious.

[OWW]

Hmmmm... no drive again today, perhaps those wheel problems have become a bit more serious.

Maybe..., but I think Spirit was still in the '5 day Thanksgiving weekend'. We'll see.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Anyone have any inside info on what Spirit is upto?

[alan]

A week off for Spirit, should have the battery fully charged. How about a 100 meter drive.?

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

There's very little new data coming down too. Just the usual images of the pancam calibration target and the Sun.

[tedstryk]

I am still hoping for a pan from in between the hills, even if it is a Navcam pan, although I would prefer a Pancam pan. It is too bad that while the rover is parked they don't take advantage of such opportunities for a good color pan. This could be achieved through tri-color imaging and perhaps 2x2 or even 4x4 binning in 2 of the colors, or perhaps all three with a full resolution clear-filter data set. I realize this would be of little scientific use, but it would be great for future coffee table books.

[alan]

For the last 5 days MER site has posted 58 shots of the sundial and 18 of the sun. Are there images of something interesting to go with these waiting to transmitted?

[alan]

Spirit is on the move. new position

and the long view

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

yayyyy..... on the move again, looks like another long drive too.

From this image http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/re...00P1313R0M1.JPG

I get the impression that they may be starting to climb slightly.

[alan]

Look at the way the ground is torn up on the right and all the short turns on the left. I bet Spirit got a rock stuck in front of one of its wheels and was pushing it along. The extra tracks on the left must be the first few attempts to manuever around it.
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/re...00P1313R0M1.JPG

[azstrummer]

Alan, per your twin pictures you posted today - You seem right on with the black and white shot but it's my opinion you're way off the mark with the positioning in the color shot. I'm absolutely certain that Spirit is not taking this long trek to the North as you propose but is in the hollow out of sight to the east of where you show the position on Sol 310. The progression you're showing is taking them completely away from Husband Hill, their stated target. Look back again at the overhead shots. There's this large open expanse between the knob they originally drove to the top of and Husband Hill to the east. Most here seem to believe that's direction they're heading, not off to North as you keep posting. That color shot was taken from a long ways off while Spirit was approaching from the west and the features you seem to be using to pinpoint locations by comparing them with small rocks and dips in recent photos wouldn't even have been visible then.

Then again I could be just as off in my assessment. I Welcome the brainstorming none the less.

[Pando]

Update:


Spirit completed acquiring a large "Thanksgiving" Pancam panorama on Sol 324 and is continuing the travel towards Husband Hill.  Spirit has just about crossed the flat saddle area between Husband Hill and West Spur and will be blimbing steeper slopes soon.

Sol 325 - Spirit continued driving Eastward across the flat saddle area between the West Spur of the Columbia Hills to where the terrain slopes back upwards towards Husband Hill.  She successfully completed ~35 meters of 5-wheel driving bringing the total mission travel distance to 3.82 km

Future Plans
Next week Spirit will continue to drive further up the hills, and will be looking for outcrops along the way. Two possible routes are still being considered - a route that would head directly towards the top of husband hill, and a route that allows exploring of a steep walled canyon on the North side of Husband hill.

[tedstryk]

Great! This might be the "pan between the hills" I wanted.

[alan]

Azstrummer, where do you think that pass in the distance is? Do you think it is the spot on my color image where I have been locating Spirit? The pass in the distance certainly looks like the pass between Clark Hill and Husband Hill to me. Take a look at it in this color panorama
http://www.whatonmars.com/womiod/11-2004/wom_iod041129a_.jpg
and compare it to the one here
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre...-A143R1_br2.jpg

[azstrummer]

Alan, I understand there are major similarities but you have to remember, that second image you keep showing was taken from at least a half mile away and you're comparing features from a picture where you're right next to rocks and hollows. Also that second picture was taken almost due west of the West Spur which would mean that the hollow between the spur and Husband Hill that Spirit is currently in would not be able to be seen from that perspective. Go back and look at the shots from the orbiters. The hollow between the spur and Husband is clearly visible. There simply are no other reference pictures to this area from the ground prior to Spirit's recent travels.

That pass in the distance that you refer to in the recent shots is merely an opening between some sub-hills blocking the main ones. Remember that Spirit went down into a hollow and the foreground features would surely block out the ones in the rear. My guess is that this is all going to become apparent in the next few days as Spirit climbs over these small ridges and the mass of Husband Hill looms ahead.

You don't do much hiking I take it. lol

[alan]

No, boy scouts was a long time ago. We obviously have a different interpretation of what point on the overhead shots corrsponds to the end of the ridge Spirit was on and in what Spirit was direction was looking when it took the shot on 149. I got 110 degrees from the route map that was posted earlier. In the panorama from 313 I can see over the end of slope in that direction, so I'm assuming that its current position should be visible from there. It should become clear where Spirit is pretty soon. I expect it to turn to the right and head up the north edge of that ridge to the right of its current position. Of course that is pure speculton on my part.

[azstrummer]

I've been doing a great deal of looking at the pictures in 3D - been building my own anaglyphs. It's truly amazing when you do that how a seemingly flat terrain becomes this series of very extreme up and down ridges that the rover is climbing over. Just a few weeks ago they went from a view of very rough terrain with Husband Hill looming huge in the background down into this valley between the spur and the base of the hill and suddenly you couldn't see that huge foreboding hill anymore in any of the pans. I think that's where we kinda lost all reference with the rover down low enough that even the small foothills in the foreground were blocking out the massive rises behind them. If my theory's right then the next day's climb should get them back the big picture again. Who knows though. I've been wrong many times in this mission trying to decipher the trickle of stuff coming from JPL at times.

[alan]

So much for my predicted right turn.

[Guest_Analyst_*]

Another drive for Spirit, now at site 98. Any idea - map - where we are? I'm lost between West Spur and Husband Hill

[djellison]

I'd say between the Sol 326 location - and the large rocks by the '3' of 326 on this
http://s02.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0...rit_311-326.jpg

Doug

[alan]

Here is a better image of spirit's location, pancam instead of navcam.

Its not zig-zagging as much as it looks like in this image.

[alan]

New route map up on MER home page. It goes to sol 324, same place it was on 317.
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre...vDEM-A332R1.jpg

[djellison]

The drive from site 98 to site 99 was not very far at all.

One rock I spotted in both end-of-drive L7.R1 mosaics came out of the parallax calulator like this..

Site 98
object distance: 15.2 m, one-pixel error: 0.108 m
object dimension: 43.0 cm

Site 99
object distance: 4.296 m, one-pixel error: 0.009 m
object dimension: 42.5 cm

I used the large rock in this view for

Site 99
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pa...00P2439L7M1.JPG

Site 98
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pa...00P2438L7M1.JPG (it's right of centre)

Thus - drive distance - to quite a high degree of accuracy - 11m

Doug



and thi

[Pando]

Spirit Update:

Spirit is currently in a challenging sandy terrain attempting to brush and RAT a rock named
Wishstone over the weekend. The slippage experienced during a Sol 332 drive was more than
90% (1 meter traveled vs. 9 meters sequenced).

The right front wheel is drawing normal current again--it is no longer experiencing larger than
normal current draw. The theory is that the rest period at West Spur allowed the lubrication
to redistribute. They probably pushed Spirit too hard earlier

After working with Wishstone, Spirit will then attempt to reach a ridge called Larry's Lookout
to look for interesting science targets.

Some interesting maps follow. This may be the most accurate map yet (the one posted at JPL site
had several inconsistencies). Also a view of looking back and a view of Wishstone. Sorry about the
width of the image, but I think it's worth panning left to right to see the full path...





Link to Wishbone image

[Pando]

Overhead view (speculation):

[dot.dk]

Fantastic news for Spirit!!
These machines keeps amazing me! Instead of aging they are perfoming better and better

Now just awoid those sand traps and let's get to the top of the hill before christmas

[alan]

Pando, getting closer but now Spirit is driving across across the minicrater on 326 instead of above it. I looked at the navcams and hazcams of it tracks, Spirit came nowhere near it.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...00P1755R0M1.JPG
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...00P1755L0M1.JPG

It did drive over a smudge on 325, you can see it in one of the navcams from 326 taken before the drive, check the time stamp.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...00P1741R0M1.JPG

If you move its position on 326 halfway between the 9 in 329 and the S in Sol 326 everything in this navcam will fit.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...00P0865L0M1.JPG

Backtrack from there to the ridge. I'd link to an image but imagehost is down at the moment.

[alan]

I found some images from Thanksgiving that were transmitted late while I was checking Pando's path that didn't fit my old position for 317. Adjusted it to fit, thanks Pando.

[alan]

Pando, here's an image of the position for 325 in the rover track you posted yesterday taken on sol 326. I don't see any tracks running across it.
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...0P1580L0M1.HTML

[alan]

Pancam from 319 showing JPL's location for that sol, follow a line from bright linear feature past large round rock to cluster of small dark rocks which JPL's picture has them sitting on.
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...0P2293L6M1.HTML

[alan]

Pancam from 315, I pointed out some dark streaks brought out by the filter they used.



Navcam from 313 showing sand dune to the SE with dark line running across it.
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...0P0645R0M1.HTML

Here they are in an image from 131, the streaks show up light instead of dark with the filters used.



In this image from 149 the sand dune is behind the slope



The position in 313 is also behind it.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Did you see this image Alan? not sure if it's been posted already. Gives some idea of the course they intenf to take up Husband Hill.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mer/images.cfm?id=1400

[alan]

Yes I've seen it. I think they have their positions too far up the hill, in the last few posts I've been picking it apart. It's not the best image for showing the planned route. This one shows it better, at least its what I think they are trying to show.

[alan]

This should be the last one of these. Overhead view of West Spur, note the shadow along the east edge of the ridge.



The overhead view with the route JPL has posted notice that they have it leaving along the east side.



Spirit followed the ridge all the way to the end then left on the north side as these images show.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...4P1212L0M1.HTML
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...4P1312L0M1.HTML
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...0P1741R0M1.HTML

I'll post my estimate of its location in Alan is Lost becouse some people will be sure that I am when they see it.

[dot.dk]

New Spirit route map from JPL

[Guest_cassioli_*]

The Spirit path... as seen from orbit!
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07192

Cool!

[TheChemist]

An updated Route Map by JPL was just posted.

A larger version in this link here.

[alan]

According to that map Larry's Lookout is 30 meters behind Spirit

[djellison]

I think the specific location of LLO essentially got moved to wherever they could sit for 10 days doing IDD work whilst doing a 360 Pancam mosaic of the surroundings

Doug

[gregp1962]

Can anyone say where spirit is and where we're going? I'm feeling lost.

[alan]

[azstrummer]

Obviously Alan's very lost now.

[gregp1962]

We're very close to the summit, aren't we? They are allowing us all to be very confused!

Can anyone match up the picture in post 241 in the "Moving on" thread ( http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...opic=653&st=240 ) with the map in post 88 in the current thread? http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...wtopic=44&st=75

[djellison]

No - we're still a long way from the summit - it's a common optical illusion that the summit is closer than you think> There's a good half km to the summit from here

If you look at Alans map two posts up - we're about where the 1 of 410 is written

Doug

[dilo]

I compared two panoramas taken one week apart with NavCam toward East (should be Tennessee valley and hills behind):

I found huge differences (see marks), suggesting strong advance in this direction... can someone give updated position Map?
Thanks!
Marco

[ustrax]

Does this help?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/ust...pathspirit6.jpg

[wyogold]

Does this help?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/ust...pathspirit6.jpg

YES..

[ElkGroveDan]

I compared two panoramas taken one week apart with NavCam toward East (should be Tennessee valley and hills behind):

I found huge differences (see marks), suggesting strong advance in this direction... can someone give updated position Map?
Thanks!
Marco

I get the sense that they are going to go look at the facing slope of that mesa-like formation straight ahead. I mentioned previously that it appears to show cross-bedded layering -- an irresistable target for sedimentary geologists.

[ustrax]

Perfect...

But Spirit is headed in opposite direction of the visible area, it is en route to summit 02 or even pass it and start descending towards the previous Lookout Point:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/ustrax/uapathb.jpg