[X] My Assistant

[djellison]

Yes - it'll go live when the conf. starts.

They had sort of 'end of sad movie' music for the Dawn 'on hold' music. This is all a bit more up beat

Doug

[mhoward]

Currently "You are the sunshine of my life.." - a little syrupy, but still, we do love those rovers.

[djellison]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/070628/index.html

Sweet

Doug

[CosmicRocker]

Images and animations are here, now.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/070628/index.html

[akuo]

Nice animation. Didn't think they would go that far really... If it's accurate

[Guest_Oersted_*]

Hmm, that talk + the vids weren't really tailored to the discerning crowd at UMSF, I think...

[dvandorn]

I've been able to listen for a bit, here (though I was on the phone with my girlfriend for the first 10 minutes or so). What I got out of Squyres' discussion is that the *only* primary science goal that has been identified for the foray into the crater is the investigation of the "bright band" of evaporite visible in the crater walls. They *think* that this band is contiguous to the layering found in Endurance, and they want to look at compositions (particularly the leeching of certain salts at given depths) to try and both confirm that these layers were laid down at the same time as the layers in Endurance, and to determine if the same processes that leeched some salts at Endurance were also working here, several km away.

They're not saying that once the bright band is explored we'll up and leave VC. Just that this is the primary mission of the foray into the crater. Squyres made it sound like he's certain we'll see other things we want to check out once we get down into the thing.

Now we're hearing a litany of all the things that have broken on the rover since we left Endurance... and commentary on how we had to spend six months looking at the crater to decide that the best place to enter is where we started out...

-the other Doug

[dvandorn]

Specifics on entry -- they'll go to the southern end of the northern lobe of Duck Bay and do their initial toe-dip at that point, followed by entry. There is a ripple that follows the northern lobe, they want to cross it where it appears thinnest, at its southern tip.

-the other Doug

Edit -- toe-dip (which ought to define "entry") looks like it will happen on Saturday, July 7 or Monday, July 9.

[CosmicRocker]

Thanks for the summaries, O'Doug.

[dvandorn]

More updates -- Steve says that the biggest concern about entering Victoria is the greater danger of failure to the drive mechanisms (wheels, steering actuators, etc.) working on the steep slopes. He reminded us that when Oppy worked in Endurance, she was a much younger rover. He flat-out stated that if we lose a wheel inside the crater, when we *know* we'll just barely be able to get out with six good wheels, we'll never get out.

Alan Stern just commented on funding -- he sort of evaded the question by simply saying that the entry into and exploration of Victoria is, for the time being, covered by the currently approved mission extension. He wouldn't go into what might be decided for later extensions. And John Callas followed that up by saying what I've stated -- as long as the MERs remain mobile, every extension is a brand-new mission and would be sold to NASA HQ as such. Leaving unspoken but very strongly implied that an immobile rover would be harder to sell for an extended mission.

-the other Doug

[dvandorn]

Squyres: "The sole basis of our scientific rules of engagement entering the crater is rover safety. The next priority is finding a safe way to approach the bright band. We will not detour from the safest path for a lot of targets of opportunity, but if we see interesting things along the way, we may stop and do some science. But we won't deviate from our path to look at other interesting things." (Paraphrased.)

-the other Doug

[djellison]

Leaving unspoken but very strongly implied that an immobile rover would be harder to sell for an extended mission.

Something that didn't go unspoken with the first Squyres Q'n'A I did

Doug

[dvandorn]

Thanks for the summaries, O'Doug.

Not a problem, though I'll have to leave to go to work here in about 15 minutes. They're taking press questions now, so we're getting some repetition in information as people ask questions that have already been answered in the presentations.

This last question was a sort of muddled one about whether it would be easier and cheaper to cut down on communications with the rovers and just use auto-nav and auto-drive features of the updated software... Callas is emphasizing that we don't use DTE comm all that much, relay through Odyssey is a lot more energy-efficient.

-the other Doug

[djellison]

Squyres on targets outside of Victoria if/when they get out

1. Potato/Fist sized cobbles on the plains. Some have been meteorites, some crater ejecta, some have been 'wierd' - perhaps from distant craters or very deep inside victoria.
2. Follow up at Erebus - best evidence of water on the surface. Possibly Terra Nova as well or other deeply eroded craters.

[dvandorn]

Steve was just asked what goals they might have after finishing with Victoria.

He said there are two science investigations they want to execute out on the plains after we finish with Victoria -- the first is the cobbles we've been blowing by as we've been travelling. The ones we've looked at, some are meteorites, some are local bedrock, and some are just weird. They might be from a long ways away, or they might be from deep down and excavated by Victoria. We want to put together a story about rocks we could never drive to.

Second is following up on discoveries we made at Erebus (festoons and such). He's talking about going to similar ancient, eroded craters like Erebus, but not necessarily back to Erebus.

No mention of any kind of Big Crater/Ithaca.

OK -- I have to run, so that's it for summaries from me for now. I hope people have enjoyed them!

-the other Doug

p.s. -- thanks for taking up the task, Doug!