Getting Unstuck in West Valley Options

[BrianL]

Thanks, Paolo, I understand completely. Pretty much the answer I expected but I figure it never hurts to ask.

Does anyone have a guess as to the extent of this bad patch? We know where it started but how far does it extend forward... make that, VonBraunward, or off to either side?

[djellison]

it never hurts to ask.

It can get a bit tedious though.

[fredk]

What do people think will be maneuvers 7 to 11? Then what techniques after that?

Check out this link for planned maneuvers.

[nprev]

Thanks for the link, Fred.

Hmm. The 'driving while steering' method is interesting, and one I don't think anyone proposed here. Sounds promising, actually; should we christen it 'sidewinder mode'?

[CosmicRocker]

That sounds like a perfect name for such a maneuver, Nick. Allow me to second that motion.

[RoverDriver]

Thanks for the link, Fred.

Hmm. The 'driving while steering' method is interesting, and one I don't think anyone proposed here. Sounds promising, actually; should we christen it 'sidewinder mode'?

This is one of my crazy ideas. I have found out that steering (= just changing the pointing of the wheels) makes the SSTB sink a lot because soil gets pushed around by the steering action. I want to try and see if by keeping the soil next to the wheel (by driving it) I can keep the wheel from sinking. Drive and steer normally is not done because driving adds stress to the steering actuator, but in this case it might be useful.

Paolo

[nprev]

You might be on to something here, Paolo. Driving while slewing the wheels back & forth should also distribute the weight of the vehicle over a greater amount of surface area over a given time (if I phrased that correctly)...or, another way of looking at it, reduce the amount of wheel surface area in contact with a given patch of soil over time. Less digging, more overland motion, maybe?

Guess you're limited to 0.5 second motion increments, right? That still might provide enough advantage to give her some impetus.

[briv1016]

All this talk of maneuvers...

Peter (Han Solo): We'll be safe enough once we make the jump to hyperspace. Besides, I know a few maneuvers. We'll lose'em.
[the Falcon starts listing lazily to the left]
Chris (Luke Skywalker): Uh, that was your maneuver? Moving slightly to the left?
Peter (Han Solo): Well, I mean we're not in the same place we were, huh? That ought to confuse'em.
Chris (Luke Skywalker): Yeah, but you hardly did anything. You just started listing lazily to the left. I'm pretty sure they can keep up.
Imperial Officer 1: Where did they go?
Imperial Officer 2: There they are! They're listing lazily to the left. Go left, left!
Imperial Officer 1: Boy, this guy knows some maneuvers.

[alan]

Calypso panorama so far

[Shaka]

Nice work, Alan!
If we get out of this powdery bog, I would feel safer keeping to the east of the von Braun track.
There are too many ominous smooth 'basins' directly toward it and to the west. The rocks are small but rather continuous closer to the Home Plate slope. I would think the footing there would be more secure, as long as the slope is not too extreme (but we have plenty of insolation power!). I used to worry that the stuck wheel might anchor itself on an embedded rock, but we've traversed a lot of rocks since then without getting caught, so, what the devil! Let's get up closer to the exposed strata of HP, and do some science on the way south to von Braun.

[Burmese]

Article in The Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1247779493...=googlenews_wsj

Quote that got my attention:

"Working through their first round of 11 rescue experiments, JPL rover engineers wearing protective masks and white "Free Spirit" lab coats gingerly gunned the test rover's engine, then periodically measured its progress with a yardstick. With each trial maneuver, though, the robot dug itself a little deeper"

My question here is, did someone at JPL tell this reporter that the rover just dug itself deeper each test? At a minimum, I would expect that what happened to the test rover in each test would be characterized in more complex terms, not simply "Dug in" or "Dug out". Or was this reporter (Robert Lee Hotz) on hand to observe some test and simply put down his own observations?

[MahFL]

"Engine and yardstick", the reporter sounds like a hick from some town with one train per week arriving.....LMAO.

He also refers to Spirit as The Spirit, and that they leave tire tracks.

Dumass.

[BrianL]

Nitpick all you want about his writing style and terminology, at least he is providing some information about what is happening. In the absence of reports to the contrary, I'm prepared to accept that the maneuvers so far have not yielded positive results. It is interesting he talks about 60 maneuvers to be tried, whereas JPL says they are working through a set of 11. Perhaps the 60 represent variations or combinations of the basic 11. Or he just has his facts wrong.

[climber]

Looks like you're stucked in Venezia, Brian...

[PDP8E]

Hi all,

I built up a drive movie (hazcam) of Spirit rounding the northern corner of Home plate and then heading down the West Valley...and then getting stuck. The bottom half of the movie is processed to see in the shadows. At one point you can see the IDD arm with MI moving a rock just under the visible deck.

I had to host it off-site (big)

The movie is from the front right hazcam, Spirit is driving backwards, so its like looking out the rear window.
You can see the rover settle into a 12degree roll as the horizon moves in the opposite direction.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2523/373110...ddccca876_o.gif

Cheers