[X] My Assistant

[RNeuhaus]

Now, Spirit has got a new routine sitting on the top of Low Ridge Heaven taking as much the Sun to charge up the batteries.

The question is that Spirit will be able to recover the full charge of battery, let say at 900W, if Spirit does not do nothing for many days on top of LRH. Then, with the full battery, Spirit will have enough electrical energy to catch up to between two outcrops: Oberth and Korolev with a new route which is less sandy?

Rodolfo

[antoniseb]

Spirit is safe at Low Ridge Haven!Spirit reached Low Ridge Haven over the weekend and as a result, the rover's power supply has been bumped up by as much as 20%, Squyres says.

So I'm guessing the plan is to park here for 100 Sols or so, and take images of the sky, while we hope that dust will roll or vibrate off the solar panels in the wind. Good luck to Spirit. I hope it survives the cold dark season.

[ToSeek]

Good news from SS via New Scientist
20% boost due to a tilt of 11.5deg so power should be back at around 390whr/sol.
This makes a very significant difference at just the right time, she's not totally safe as power in this position still dips to 257whr for a couple of Sols around Sol 954 and she will still be spending from Sols 891 to 1024 below the critical 280whr point.

Prior to this she was heading for a minimum of 207whr/Sol and would have spent from sol 828 to 1125 below 280.

Yellow line is the revised power curver (extrapolated from 390whr on Sol 807)
Pink Line is the previous estimate (extrapolated from 330whr on Sol 794)
[attachment=5042:attachment]

One more stiff gust would be really nice about now, wouldn't it?

[odave]

Another round of heroics from the MER planners and drivers!

The New Scientist article says that it "is likely the rover will remain there for the entire winter science campaign." Figure we'll see the "mother of all MI mosaics" done here?

I don't think we'll get much in the way of wind this time of year - maybe this will help attract what breezes there are:

[RNeuhaus]

The wind always goes stronger on top the hill. It is aerodynamic principle, when an airplane flies, the air goes closer on the top of wing when it passes so the wind becomes stronger on that moment. This happens the same on the top of any hills, the winds always circumvens on this in their way. You can see more stones on the top than on the bottom of LRH. That is due to wind cleaning process.

However, it looks difficult for Spirit to climb even further on the top of LRH to catch more winds. Maybe, the spiral technique path might permit Spirit to reach and sit on the top.

Rodolfo

[general]

Looking back:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/na...KMP0755R0M1.JPG

[Rakhir]

Dilo,

your "Worm" reappeared.

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pa...00P2406R1M1.JPG

[climber]

On the other side of the planet! Dune's worm around . A very little one indeed.

[Dyche Mullins]

Hmm. I'm no geologist, but from that image it looks like the top surface is forming a cohesive crust and that the 'worm' track is the edge of a fracture in the crust. In fact, it looks like the surface has been slightly undermined and collapsed as a unit.

[Jeff7]

So Spirit's basically at or very near where it's going to spend the winter?

[sattrackpro]

So Spirit's basically at or very near where it's going to spend the winter?

In a word, yes. I expect we'll see a 'most favorable' spot found (or several) that will allow the best charging of the batteries, and some movement away from (for 'science,') and back to that spot - and or other spots comparably favorable.

We will see pretty much the same routine that we saw last winter - not much movement, a lot of sun-basking, but certainly longer and closer looks at the layering and composition of interesting outcrops, rocks and composites nearest to spots that tip the solar panels best toward the sun low in the northern sky.

With the crippled 'leg' - the drivers will be limited in what they can accomplish, to some degree - but, I expect we'll see plenty of interesting work done, even though Spirit will soon be in the coldest part of winter.

One interesting thing we've learned - driving increases the heat level in the WEB, so some amount of driving (power dependent) may help the MER vehicles get through the coldest part of winter.

[ElkGroveDan]

So Spirit's basically at or very near where it's going to spend the winter?

Yep. Backgammon anyone?

[jvandriel]

The view into the drive direction.

Taken on Sol 806 with the L7 pancam.

jvandriel

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[RNeuhaus]

In a word, yes. I expect we'll see a 'most favorable' spot found (or several) that will but, I expect we'll see plenty of interesting work done, even though Spirit will soon be in the coldest part of winter.

Someone has any idea about how the temperatures variations will occur during the winter?

Max 0 centigrade? around noon?
Min 90 centigrade below? little before of sunrise?


Rodolfo

[djellison]

A little bit worse than the cream-curve in this graph

http://www.exo.net/~pauld/Mars/4snowflakes...airtemp500.jpeg

Doug