[X] My Assistant

[stewjack]

Now that we know where we are going, I thought we could use a topic about our future route. I hope that a few images will get the rover rolling - downhill.

READY START

BACKGROUND
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From Steve Squyres Misson Update
Octoberber 4, 2005

Extending eastward from the summit of Husband Hill is a broad ridge that we've named Haskin Ridge. It trends ENE from the summit, does a little dog-leg to the right, and then trends ESE for a bit. Right at the dog-leg there's a pretty steep step, which we're not certain we can get down. So we're going to descend the upper portion of the ridge, right to where the step is, and assess the situation. If we can see a safe route, then we'll continue down onto the lower portion of Haskin Ridge.
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My Image of Haskin Ridge
I tried to get the best image of Haskin ridge that was available, and this is a crop from a true color TIFF summit panorama, located on the the Cornell Pancam web site. I converted the tif file to a gif file to save some download time.

Warning : File Size : 1.7 MB
Cornell True Color Pan of Haskin Ridge

Reference
WEB page of Husband Hill Summit Panorama
Warning: File Size : 80 MB !!!!
Preliminary Spirit Pancam of "Husband Hill Summit" Panorama

Jack

PS If you can't see the "steep step" that Squyres mentions - try this orbital image. I believe that the "steep step" is the dark shadow cutting across the ridge that is located directly under the word CRATER. I think that it is also visible in the true color pancam image, but it is less obvious.

Orbital View of Husband Hill and Basin

[abalone]

... to the left could reveal a more gradual entry to this slope.

Could be correct too. The change in elevation to the ridge beyond is the smallest here

[Tesheiner]

Here is a sol 639 pancam panorama with the calculated distances to some features nearby the step.

[GregM]

.

[mhoward]

You fellows have forgotten one thing. In America, they know perfectly well how to deal with driving obstacles such as cliffs on mountainsides and the like. The technique has been worked out and perfected in a place called Hazzard County almost 30 years ago. Principle Investigators were Bo Duke, Luke Duke, and Rosco P. Coultraine. 

Spirit will have no problem!

Yeee-ha!

Darn them Duke boys...!

[alan]

Spirits not going to fly very far traveling at a few cm/sec

[RNeuhaus]

Spirit advanced few meters and has turned on Left.... (east)

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/na...00P1755R0M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/na...00P1755L0M1.JPG

Rodolfo

[stewjack]

Now even common people, without colored glasses, can see that the apparent ledge is quite wide.

I used Abalone's anaglyph to create a flicker. All the hard work was already done.


File size 500 Kb

[attachment=1948:attachment]

[Guest_Myran_*]

And now my eyes flicker too!
Thank you stewjack, I can see the depth nicely there.

[jamescanvin]

Spirit advanced few meters and has turned on Left.... (east)

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/na...00P1755R0M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/na...00P1755L0M1.JPG

Rodolfo

Note those were from yestersol (639) there was no driving tosol (640)

[RNeuhaus]

Note those were from yestersol (639) there was no driving tosol (640)

Thank you for the correction. You know that it is very hard to decode the sol from the filename of the picture such as the ones like this: 2N183087021EFFAH00P1755L0M1.JPG

Report update Oct 21, 2005
Elevation maps produced from the panoramic camera imagery taken at and near the summit of Husband Hill showed a safe traverse (with vehicle tilts under about 20 degrees) across ridge lines east of the summit. These ridge lines (informally called "Haskin upper ridge" and "Haskin east ridge") are the planned traverse paths for coming weeks. When possible, Spirit will drive each day.

Sol 639: Spirit covered 17 meters (56 feet) during the third drive of the approach to Haskin upper ridge. This left Spirit about 15 meters (49 feet) from the drop-off and near an area with rock outcrops.

Sol 640: Spirit's planned activities for sol 640 were devoted to remote sensing of the east basin, expected to be within view after the third leg of the sol 639 drive.

This looks that the JPL guys are confident and are not much worried (yes a little) of the steep step since the MER is a very capable girl:

ROVER NAVIGATION DURING SURFACE OPERATIONS
Keeping the rover right side up and balanced

The rover's Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) uses gyroscopes and accelerometers to determine the heading and tilt of the rover. The gyroscopes measure small heading changes very accurately, and the accelerometers measure where gravity is strongest, pulling down on the rover. Having knowledge of where gravity (down) is, the rover can partly assess its orientation. The rover will also use its tilt sensors to prevent rollover.

If the IMU fails or the rover is lost, the flight team can use the Pancam, which is not part of the autonomous system, to try to figure out the rover direction and position relative to the horizon (attitude).

Rodolfo

[jamescanvin]

Thank you for the correction. You know that it is very hard to decode the sol from the filename of the picture such as the ones like this:

Yes, but it is relatively easy to check the timestamp against some of the latest images (rear hazcam is a good one if your interested in driving) For sol 639 the end of drive time starts 18309, the ones you posted had 18308 and hence don't show a new drive.

Also I beleve somewhere this is a utility for decoding filenames, and of course there is also MMB.

James

[sattrackpro]

... somewhere [there] is a utility for decoding filenames ...

I wrote my own, but it's not quite to my satisfaction (finished) - so if anyone knows where we can avail ourselves of said utility, by all means point the way

[dot.dk]

I wrote my own, but it's not quite to my satisfaction (finished) - so if anyone knows where we can avail ourselves of said utility, by all means point the way   

I will point the way then

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...t=0&#entry19457

[Tesheiner]

Dot.dk already posted the info about "rawid" tool.

Let me add that a quick and easy way to know if a rover has moved or not is by checking the site/drive id on the image filenames.

Rodolfo,

You made a reference to the file 2N183087021EFFAH00P1755L0M1.JPG.
Pictures taken on a different place, regardless of sol, will have an id different of AH00.
Spirit is currently on site/drive AI00. After the next drive she will be at AJ00 or AIxx.

[CosmicRocker]

Anaglyph of the same scene. At the extreme right could be a flatter area to go down

Yeah, there is just a hint of a slighter slope down at the far right. Thanks for the excellent anaglyph panorama.

Could be correct too. The change in elevation to the ridge beyond is the smallest here

I missed the one on the left. As ElkGroveDan pointed out, there is another hint of a slighter slope down on the far left...and as you mention, the elevation change there to the next ridge is smaller.

Yeee-ha! 

Where have I heard that before?
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...c=1506&st=105&#
There's much to be said about being an armchair rover rider, or should I say a wheelchair rover rider?

Spirit needs to bump up a little closer to the precipice (dare I say, Abyss), to better image the options.