Spirit - 2010 Winter@Troy, The first stationary science campaign Options

[Hungry4info]

Probably not. I think they're on the other side of that mountain.

[fredk]

I thought about looking for the heatshield (easiest to see) from the last couple of winter haven sites, but never got around to digging through the pancams. Actually, you'd first want to make sure the right azimuth was in view. The landing site was visible from both WH2 and WH3 according to jpl - they've labelled it on these pans:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pan...pirit/2007.html
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pan...pirit/2008.html
But there are errors in those jpl pans (both incorrectly label West Spur), so you'd want to double check the azimuths.

[djellison]

(both incorrectly label West Spur)

Were I to label any feature on those pans as West Spur - I'd put it in exactly the same place as it is on both those JPL pans. Where would you put it?

[fredk]

The azimuth is right for West Spur, but West Spur is hidden behind another promontory we used to call "Lookout Point " in the really old days. (IIRC, there was talk before the big climb began of driving up to that point for a view of the inner basin.) Check out this post for example.

Compare those jpl pans with a hirise view like this one. What we see, Lookout Point, is just to the west of Eldorado. West Spur is roughly twice as far away to the northwest.

[djellison]

West Spur, however, is in that direction. 'Lookout Point' formally, is near Larrys Lookout, and I can't find any formal name for that hill. Notice they put it with a line pointing down and stopping at the top of that feature, they've not put the label ON it, like Home Plate and El Dorado. I don't think it's right to call it 'incorrectly labelled'.

[fredk]

"Lookout Point" was only ever an informal name, as far as I know. Here's the reference, including the story of the plan that never panned out.

I'd have to say that it seems a bit of a stretch to suppose that they meant to indicate that West Spur was behind "Lookout Point". Anyone who didn't know the geography well would assume that what they were pointing to was West Spur. Maybe the jpl people meant to add a dotted profile of the invisible West Spur but never got round to it.

[centsworth_II]

This story shows that before it was decided that Spirit could climb West Spur, one plan was to skirt the base of Husband Hill and climb to "Lookout Point" for a view of the inner basin.


Edit: Scooped by fredk!

[Lucas]

Lots of Pancam pictures returned on March 3rd, including some of Stu's "lucky horseshoe" crumbling apart as Spirit moved those 39 cm! I'm sure he doesn't mind one bit

Looking forward to some color mosaics by the experts!



http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pa...7MP2400L5M1.JPG

[NickF]

Here's an RGB appetiser before the image geniuses get to work

[alan]

From roverdriver's twitter feed:

Spirit's down to ~ 150 W-hr/sol. We might be right on the edge of losing commandability, possibly for several months. Think warm thoughts. 11:23 PM Mar 6th via web

[Tesheiner]

The last status report on the project's web page already mentioned the 150Wh figure (153, actually) for sol 2191 (2nd March).

[Astro0]

She may be down, but she's not out!
Another amazing milestone just a few hours away - Sol 2200!

Rest easy little Spirit and we'll see you in the Spring.

[Explorer1]

Spirit 2200: sounds like some sci-fi movie title from the 50's.

[vikingmars]

YES ! Only 46 more Sols to go before beating Viking Lander 1 record for the longest Mars surface mission !
I.e. Sol 2245 (last transmission received from VL1 with latest images and meteo data from Sol 2238) + 1 Sol = Sol 2246

[Explorer1]

I was wondering when they'd beat that old record. Guinness book, here we come! (Crossing fingers)