Out The Crater.., on to the Heatshield Options

[alan]

Pando, whats a restricted sol?

[djellison]

I think it means crappy comms for the day? (i.e. fewer than usual UHF passes - or bad geometry on UHF passes)

Doug

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

What's the maximum drive distance they could realisticly aim for? I know that on the way to Endurance Crater they managed 140m in one sol. There appear to be few obstacles to worry about

[djellison]

No reason why they couldnt do the same again. Infact - given the fact that they have more power now - than they did during the transit from Eagle to End. - they could infact push for further.



See the straight drive in the blind - followed by the slightly wandering auto-nav drive

As for the heatshield itself - Spirits was seamingly intact - but broken (if that makes sense) - i.e. the pieces were all together, but it was no longer the right shape.

With opportunity - I dont THINK that's the case. It appears that one large piece is embedded to the left - and another piece closer to the impact







Who know WHAT we'll see when we get there - unlikely to be anything LIKE a flat reflecive surface left though -

Doug

[OWW]

Strange, I see only one object in this new picture from Sol 319:



In Dougs picture the trough/impact looks different.

[djellison]

Mine was taken WAYYY back out near Eagle crater - almost 90 degrees to this one. The black part you see in mine is essentialyl behind it from the view now

Doug

[akuo]

Excellent pancam shot showing the new and old tracks. There seems to be quite a lot of weathering visible there, I guess caused by wind and dust.

[OWW]

Or maybe the tracks just 'collapse' like mud ( I don't say there is water involved ). You can see the sharp edges are gone on the old tracks.

[djellison]

Like I said -it appears the bluberries have re-appeared over 200 sols

Doug

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

Getting back to Alan's question: a "restricted Sol" is one in which (due to the fact that the ground crew is back on Earth time and also taking weekends off), they haven't gone through the cycle of planning a complete driving or science-taking sequence for that Sol -- in which case they fall back on a much simpler preexisting program of observations with the mast instruments.

[CosmicRocker]

That's an interesting image of the tracks. There is a significant amount of erosion. It appears that the wind has removed/redistributed a lot of the dust, revealing the compacted berries. Also, the impressions of the wheel treads appear as depressions.

[mike]

Give them another few months and there will be no evidence the rover was ever there.. is it just me, or are there a bunch of extra-tiny berries popping up from underneath the old tracks?

[CosmicRocker]

is it just me, or are there a bunch of extra-tiny berries popping up from underneath the old tracks?

Good observation, Mike. There is a higher concentration of smaller berries in the old tracks. I hadn't noticed that.

[OWW]

I don't think the wind can do SO much in just six months in the extremely thin Martian atmosphere. The 'sand' has crumbled/flowed into the depressions made by the wheels, re-exposing the embedded berries that the wheels had pushed into the soil. No wind ( or maybe a tiny little bit ) involved. IMHO.

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

A bunch of Microscopic images have now been taken of the tracks ( http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...ger/2004-12-17/ -- there's also a new Front Hazcam shot of the MI being pointed at the tracks). Certainly there has been some sliding of the fine sand grains around the edges of the Blueberries, although not being a geologist of any sort I don't know quite hat to look for in thes shots. It's also very easy to see the lightening of the old tracks' color due to windblown dust.