After Victoria..., .. what next? Options

[Stu]

I know we've had rather light-hearted discussions about this before, with most people agreeing that Oppy is likely to end her days inside or on the edge of Victoria Crater, simply because there's nothing else to investigate within reach, but has Steve S got it in his mind that Oppy will head off somewhere else after Victoria? This report could be read in a way that suggests that...

[fredk]

You guys want completely uncalled for, brazen speculation? I'll give you completely uncalled for, brazen speculation!

Perhaps we need to think outside the box on this one. Let's suppose we reach a point where it's deemed there's little to be gained staying at Vicky, and that we're still mobile and funded. Let's suppose the "big crater" to the southeast is deemed an interesting target. Instead of driving southeastish, the most direct route there, through what appears to be purgatoryish dunes, perhaps it would actually be far quicker to drive northeast, back to the flat tarmac we had around Endurance, and then skirt east towards the north rim of Big.

In this map I've sketched a route that gets us to the tarmac very quickly from an extension of Vicky's anulus. In total, we'd spend far less distance in dunes than we have in the past. Of course this all depends on how far the tarmac continues eastwards.

The circle is roughly where we first got stuck in dunes.

[ElkGroveDan]

...suppose we reach a point where it's deemed there's little to be gained staying at Vicky, and that we're still mobile and funded..... it would actually be far quicker to drive northeast, back to the flat tarmac we had around Endurance

I'm with you on part of that Fred, though I'm still way too skeptical about the chances of travelling 20 or so km. But if we have exhausted the obvious science at Victoria, then I could imagine getting back to the "tarmac" as you call it and heading back North or Northeast.

Among some of our tasks could be meteorite hunting (or global impact ejecta), since Meridiani has proven to be a sort of uber-Antarctica in its meteorite hunting opportunities.

Once on the tarmac again we could head back around to Endurance and Eagle, studying the dust deposition and erosion rates on different portions of Oppy's old tracks where we have a very EXACT timeline and season count since the soil was disturbed at each spot.

The chance to examine the chute and backshell site is also something that would excite the engineers among us.

[nprev]

The chance to examine the chute and backshell site is also something that would excite the engineers among us.

I'd go for that. EDL at Mars is so notoriously (and historically) difficult that it would be well worth the effort to dedicate some intensive study to the heat shield, backshell, and especially the parachute...valuable follow-up data for future missions.

[gallen_53]

I'd go for that. EDL at Mars is so notoriously (and historically) difficult that it would be well worth the effort to dedicate some intensive study to the heat shield, backshell, and especially the parachute...valuable follow-up data for future missions.

A bunch of us wanted MER-A or B to take a close look at the backshell. The Back Interface Plate (BIP) and the covers for the Transverse Impulse Rocket Systems (TIRS) on the backshell are made out of SIRCA (Silicone Impregnated Reusable Ceramic Ablator). It would have been very interesting to see how well the SIRCA had held up. However the folks at JPL were adamant that getting anywhere near to the backshell was a non-option because the rover's wheels could have become entangled with the parachute's strings. Fortunately they allowed us to take a close look at the forebody heat shield. That was quite interesting and almost made up for not getting close to the backshell.