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Getting Unstuck in West Valley |
 Aug 19 2009, 04:59 PM
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#796
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Founder  Group: Chairman Posts: 14445 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1  |
QUOTE (MarkG @ Aug 19 2009, 03:20 PM)  movement must be near. Read the updates from JPL etc - motion is expected in September. |
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Aug 21 2009, 02:47 AM
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#797
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4260 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 152 |
From the latest Spirit update:
QUOTE Atmospheric conditions over Spirit have deteriorated owing to a regional dust storm. As of Sol 2001 (Aug. 19, 2009), the rover solar-array energy production was down to 744 watt-hours with atmospheric opacity (tau) increasing to 0.718 and the dust factor remaining around 0.8315. 
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Aug 21 2009, 06:51 AM
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#798
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14445 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Dust factor remained the same though - which is good.
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Aug 21 2009, 02:13 PM
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#799
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4260 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 152 |
A spectacular early morning pancam sequence is down, looking south towards G/VB, eg
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...E5P2389L6M1.JPG |
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Aug 21 2009, 03:41 PM
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#800
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 Special Cookie Group: Members Posts: 2168 Joined: 6-April 05 From: Sintra | Portugal Member No.: 228 |
Beautiful!
My kind of hike... 
-------------------- "Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Alan Poe |
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Aug 21 2009, 08:49 PM
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#801
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Member Group: Members Posts: 530 Joined: 21-March 06 From: Canada Member No.: 721 |
Does anyone else think the route ahead looks very soft and embeddable? Is there an official, unofficial name for these rover-swallowers, such as Purgatoids came to be for Oppy's nemeses?
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Aug 21 2009, 11:04 PM
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#802
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 Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 3431 Joined: 11-August 04 From: USA Member No.: 98 |
QUOTE (fredk @ Aug 21 2009, 08:13 AM) A spectacular early morning pancam sequence is down, looking south towards G/VB 
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Aug 21 2009, 11:18 PM
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#803
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 The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Good grief... that might be one of the most beautiful images of the whole mission, like something Ansell Adams would have taken on Mars. Just imagine how gorgeous a colour version of that would be...
 Edit: had a quick go at adding some colour to your image...not properly colourised, but still pretty, I think...
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Aug 22 2009, 04:09 AM
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#804
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4260 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 152 |
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Aug 22 2009, 05:21 AM
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#805
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2228 Joined: 1-December 04 From: Marble Falls, Texas, USA Member No.: 116 |
I hate to say it, but this isn't looking good. I guess this new test plan pretty much indicates that the testing hasn't gone very well, despite the earlier reports of "favorable motion." I hope I am wrong about that.
-------------------- ...Tom
I'm not a Space Fan, I'm a Space Exploration Enthusiast. |
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Aug 22 2009, 05:50 AM
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#806
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 Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8789 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Mmm...I don't know if I'd go that far, CR. My read is that they want to make sure (as much as that's possible) that the proposed extraction sequence(s) don't do more harm than good.
Simulations are naturally never 100% representative of the real world. This one's trying to simulate conditions on a real alien world, so gotta assume that it's that much more difficult. Extreme caution is warranted before going for broke with Spirit. -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Aug 22 2009, 09:40 AM
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#807
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14445 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
QUOTE (CosmicRocker @ Aug 22 2009, 06:21 AM) I hope I am wrong about that. Wrong? Who knows. Jumping to conclusions? Ohhhh yes. |
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Aug 22 2009, 11:25 AM
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#808
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 237 Joined: 22-December 07 From: Alice Springs, N.T. Australia Member No.: 3989 |
Enjoy the beautiful sunset on Mars yesterday (Sol 2002) in slow motion in all its glory! Only black and white, but I find it deeply deeply awe inspiring to watch a sunset on another world the day after it has happened. When I first looked at the Exploratorium pics I thought these smudges don't look so interesting - until I looked closer!!! Both Pancams were used - I took the right. Pics taken at around 1 1/4 min intervals from 18:19:36 to 35:54 Mars time ... 14 frames (I left the last -15th frame off). If I get time, I will try to do more with it.
Things like this make me very grateful to the MER-NASA mob..... and MHoward of MidNightMars Browser who's made it all so easy, but could be sued for producing an addictive product. So this is my small contribution.....
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Aug 22 2009, 12:49 PM
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#809
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 Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 3108 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
A beautiful sunset it may be, but losing the Sun for the last few frames tells us that the dust in the atmosphere is pretty thick.
Hopefully the local weather will clear up soon and not affect our girl too much. |
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Aug 22 2009, 02:41 PM
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#810
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 Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
QUOTE (nprev @ Aug 21 2009, 10:50 PM) they want to make sure (as much as that's possible) that the proposed extraction sequence(s) don't do more harm than good. I agree. So much is different here (even without discussing the bad wheel). The situation here is so much more precarious than in Meridiani where they knew that ultimately there was a flat surface below the small dune, had a good idea of the full depth of the material and could count on predictable soil movement. Based on the visible slopes this stuff could be half a meter deep on one side and two meters deep on the other. Because of the slope the rover could slip and slide in all kinds of undesirable ways during extraction, and Lord knows what it is beneath it all, large boulders? Even finer sand? The fact is there are so many ways to make this a permanent observation that station a few months of cautious testing is totally warranted. Everyone be patient. -------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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