[X] My Assistant

[Reckless]

Those terragen scenes are so good.
I suppose there isn't any point in Oppy going there now

Roy F

[Guest_Oersted_*]

I was thinking just the same... - amazing terragen models!

[dilo]

Ant103, this is a beauty!!!
I think you should work a little bit on the inner dunefield to make them less smooth and more realirtic...
For the remaining, very impressive work!

[Joffan]

Grumble... I hope it's not too realistic. I'd like some slopes that are not so steep, for Opportunity to drive down.

[RNeuhaus]

Laid on the map, from Oppy's current location this matches exactly with a small whitish mound on the near rim of VC, which I have long suspected to be the 'beacon'.

Previously, I tought that around Victoria crater has no rims but a slope down flat land starting about 400 meters before reaching the cliff. However, according to the recent pictures, it is confirmed that around rim is a on higher surface than its around. Hence, it is named as a Beacon...a good name

Rodolfo

[Pando]

Pando, your 3D model / animation is great!
Exactly, how did you made it? Are you using the same digital model posted some time ago by Terragen user?

Hi dilo, I didn't use the terragen digital model. I actually did that last October, way before the Terragen map was ever posted:
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...indpost&p=23430

Basically I created my own height-map from the Victoria photo which I then used to create a mesh using tsxTruder plugin and projected a texture on it with truespace. It's not perfect since the crater edge cliffs are drooping down a bit. One of these days I'll make a better one.

If any of you want to get your feet wet with 3d modeling, there's a nifty little app available for download for free -- Caligari Truespace 3.2, and the only thing you need to do is register at Caligari website to get the serial number. TS3 also has a bunch of third party plugins (free and otherwise) that do various things.

Free ts3: http://www.download.com/TrueSpace/3000-667...tml?tag=lst-0-1
plugins (watch for the ts version numbers): http://www.primitiveitch.com/php/product_i...gory=Free&Linux

There is a learning curve associated with its funky interface, but once you know the basics it's pretty simple. People have created some really amazing images with this. You can also create a camera and animate it over a path and render to video file.

That Terragen image Ant103 posted is awesome though. Was this created from a real DEM data, or is this using a hand-made height map as well? I like the fact that it can simulate the level of detail for the texture which makes it look much more real.

(sorry for the long post, I guess we should continue discuss the imaging details in another forum, and keep this one for Victoria images)

[dilo]

Thanks Pando.
As highlighted in the Opportunity route map thread, few days ago JPL guys decided to look for VC by stretching PanCam images and they found what we already know!
http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/press/op.../20060505a.html
Is beautiful to see we correctly identified all features (they call the beacon "promontory far rim" and the bright/white crater is a "35m crater").
Due to better quality of press release image (based on not-jpeg, perhaps 12bit precision original images) I decided to make this further stretch (10x) with enhanced contrast...

At the left of VC it seems to see a large depression, which could explain the tilted crater profile... moreover, we can see a couple of very far, bright outcrops on the horizon (similar to beacon feature), possibly belonging to the rim of the huge, distant SE crater I already discussed in another thread...

[sattrackpro]

Yesterday, I've build a Terragen panorama of Victoria Crater from the arrival point targeted by Tesheiner route map.

Your images suggest pretty scarce possibilities for Oppy driving to the floor of this monster crater.

I’ve kept mum about my thinking that Oppy drivers will find no safe entry to descend into the interior of VC. But should that prove to be the case, I’d be among those who would be greatly disappointed.

[Bill Harris]

On the South and Southeast sides of Victoria the rim is lower and the slopes are less so access may be more of a possibility. But remember the problem Oppy had at Endurance with getting stuck in the very loose material inside.

My take is that Oppy ought to make a traverse around the rim without making entry a priority and then continue downhill to the Southeast and go lower in the geologic section, health permitting.

--Bill

[Jeff7]

Thanks Pando.
As highlighted in the Opportunity route map thread, few days ago JPL guys decided to look for VC by stretching PanCam images and they found what we already know!
http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/press/op.../20060505a.html
Is beautiful to see we correctly identified all features (they call the beacon "promontory far rim" and the bright/white crater is a "35m crater").

"This vertical stretch technique was first applied to Viking Lander 2 panoramas by Philip Stooke, of the University of Western Ontario, Canada, to help locate the lander with respect to orbiter images."

[dilo]

Agree, Bill. Rim profile (which is tilted 0.7deg, probably like the surrounding terrain) and position of internal dunefields suggests that SE is the best entry way... this could add at least another Km to be covered before enter VC (a couple of months, perhaps!) but circling the crater should be a spectacle by itself!

[Bill Harris]

The traverse around the rim isn't all that bad an idea: although the rim is overturned and jumbled ejecta we can still look at different points of the section laterally and vertically along the way as well as get different views of the cliff. There'll still be plenty of photo ops as well as science along the way.

Is the "JPL Victoria Route Map" noted this morning available as a non-annotated image? Much better resolution and tonal quality than out MOC images here. I looked and didn't see anything else.

--Bill

[marswiggle]

Now my theory 'promontory on near rim' is contested against the JPL guys 'promontory on far rim'... we will see. With all their firsthand information the odds are quite in their favor, though they have had the tendency to fall a bit behind (findings here). [Edited for accuracy:] ...but inevitably they also seemingly lag a bit behind until actually confirming many findings here.

The ~left side of VC in that 10 x stretch is confusing to say the least. After all, a depression (partly) around VC, as speculated earlier?

[djellison]

I don't think they're behind us, things just get reported about 7-14 days in arrears

Doug

[Bob Shaw]

Ant103:

Well done! All they need is a teensy little MER...

...and the ragged edges make the whole thing look like Autostitch has been doing it's stuff, just like the real thing!

Bob Shaw