Land of Salvation, What Ails Thee? Options

[ustrax]

Here's the line...utter craziness...in a straight line it's a 25 kms trek approximately...

[climber]

Thanks Rui to believe in this new "endeavour" and share it with us.
With this last map, it's now much easier to understand where we're going.
Seriously, my take would be, once we've finished with HP surroundings (Von Braun, etc...) let's take the same decision taken for Oppy after Victoria's exploration has been completed: pedal to the metal, even if the metal is a bit torned here are will slow us down.

[ustrax]

climber, I didn't say I believed in it...
It would be a truly incredible, amazing, unbelievable, achievement for Spirit...
Our role is to, as before, dream with the "what if", and the rover is in a bad condition, thinking about 5kms at a time helps me aiming towards the Land of Salvation without with the optimism levels high.

We'll see if we return to this thread in years to come...

[nprev]

I know what you mean. I've put my thoughts on this subject here.

Excellent essay, Stu; you nailed it perfectly!

[CosmicRocker]

I was going to suggest that it might be more productive to suggest a more attainable long term goal for this crippled rover, rather than to discuss another quixotic adventure. But now that I see the mapped route going first to the Promised Land, I'm on board for the adventure.

Negotiating the Promised Land will probably be the most challenging part of such a traverse.

[Marz]

The Promised Land looks really tempting, and wasn't it the near term goal for Spirit, before the crippled wheel, was to drive a few hundred meters past Von Braun (Pitcher's Mound) to the south, where the hummocky Chaotic Terrain begins? It seems like that might yet be an attainable goal.

I'd also be happy to find the antithesis to El Dorado: a place where wind scours the surface and hopefully act as a car wash; maybe some slopes on McCool hill are attainable? Oberth seems to resemble a smaller version of Homeplate, so maybe it would be worth investigating too?

The Land of Salvation seems like a dream: Spirit has only managed a mere 7km, most of those clocked back in the days of burning watts and 6 wheels.
Is this where ustrax shows up in a dark suit and says something threatening, like, "I find your lack of faith... disturbing."

[imipak]

I'd also be happy to find the antithesis to El Dorado: a place where wind scours the surface and hopefully act as a car wash; maybe some slopes on McCool hill are attainable?

I thought it was decided that Spirit won't be climbing any more hills with five wheels? In Ustrax's lunatic[1] yet visionary context view, the wind-scoured plains to the south-east look tantalisingly close. If a second dead wheel means no more roving (anyone know for sure?), that would mean no more north-facing slopes for winter, and thus probably a dead rover, absent a cleaning event. So, it seems to me that ideally, after von Braun, Spirit should head towards a location where the solar panels can be kept as dust-free as possible, as long as possible. And hey, if Salvation happens to lie in the same general direction... everyone's happy!

[1] ...I mean that in a good way, of course. I still love it

[Phil Stooke]

How about this for a hypothesis? The area south of Thyra is the old crater floor material, covered by lava flows further west where Spirit first landed... and various small areas near the Columbia Hills are patches of that material sticking up through the lavas, just a bit too high to be covered. They include areas near the crater SW of the hills, the 'Promised Land' at the southern end of the hills - AND the rough terrain in the valley we are in now. In other words... we have already been to the Promised Land, and to the Land of Salvation - in fact we're in it now.

Phil

[ustrax]

So Phil...where to?
What do you consider to be the most valuable scientific targets for Spirit in the long term? To stay among the hills sniffing here and there?

[Phil Stooke]

I would look at von Braun and Goddard. Then across to Korolev if possible, to look at the circular patch of bright material (being exhumed from under the hills?) in that area. Then I would drive along the lower slopes of the hills to look at the contact with plains materials half way along, and finally, to the Promised Land to test my hypothesis.

Phil

[ustrax]

No no no...I was speaking after that...
I have never thought about leaving all that work behind, I too want to see all those targets you mentioned visited, I am just thinking about the impossible possibilities...

After all that, where too Phil? Where to guys?

[BrianL]

I think the big crater along your path is a worthwhile long term goal. That alone would probably take a couple of years to get to, even after they finish up with TPL (I do wish JPL would come up with another name for that area). If the slope is at all reasonable, I would send Spirit in, even with the likelihood of it being a one way trip. We've been up, might as well see what down is like (just as I would send Oppy hill-climbing when/if she reaches Endeavour).

Brian

The opinions expressed herein are not based on knowledge or even rational thought processes and should be viewed accordingly.

[YesRushGen]

Aw, c'mon ustrax, don't sell yourself short...

On to Ma'adim Vallis!

Kelly

[ustrax]

Kelly...I believe it is not the first occasion during this mission that I read that sentence...
Little by little...who knows?

[BrianL]

And this in from the Mars colony...

A crowd estimated at around 1000 was on hand at Ma'adim Vallis today to welcome the arrival of the intrepid rover Spirit, launched decades ago. Blind without any cameras, with one working wheel dragging it slowly along as the now famous Repeat Ad Infinitum drive command sent just before contact was lost executed in its memory banks, the rover rolled into the throng until its progress was halted by a sushi cart. Never one to miss a photo opportunity, Colony Constable Ellison presented the rover with a ticket for driving without a license, and failure to maintain the posted minimum speed.