From Cambridge Bay to the "parking lot" Options

[Tesheiner]

Bye bye, Cambridge Bay. It's roving time once again.
No navcams (yet), but this hazcams from sol 2347 tells us that we are back on the road.


Still have to confirm it visually but according to the "telemetry" this drive was 85+ meters east.

[SFJCody]

I felt sure they were going to stay there a little while longer. I guess it's time to get moving again. I'm not complaining!

[SFJCody]

I think they're now at about the same longitude as Duck Bay.

[ngunn]

Since it's now in the thread title could somebody remind us exactly which area is being referred to here as the parking lot. Googling around I find that several different parts of Meridiani have been so described.

I know - I've not been paying attention - but newcomers might welcome clarification too. Is it the large patch of exposed bedrock ahead, the smooth plain beyond, or both?

[jamescanvin]

My understanding (and what I've meant when using it myself) is that the 'parking lot' is the smooth plain after the bedrock ahead. Essentially the large green region on the right of this map.

So this thread will cover the next ~2km east across the bedrock. Then, hopefully in the not too distant future, we'll start another for the 2km dash across the parking lot to Santa Maria.

James

[BrianL]

I would prefer it if we continued using tarmac. The last thing we want is for Oppy to park itself.

[Tesheiner]

My first idea was to name the thread "From Cambridge Bay to Santa Maria" but then I thought the crater would be too far away to cover the distance without another "science stop" in the middle.
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Now checking tosol's imaging plan ... it's driving day. Hope for another 80+ meters.

[ngunn]

the 'parking lot' is the smooth plain after the bedrock ahead.

Thanks. I think I was confusing pavement with parking lot. People do this all the time in Wales, especially during the tourist season.

[brellis]

@ngunn - there must be some jokes about stale bread and overcooked meat in there too?

[Tesheiner]

Today is sol 2348 and we're 40m closer...

[Stu]

Am I right in thinking we're now just slightly less than 10km from Cape York? Will be great to be in single figures!

[Tesheiner]

If we take a straight line to Santa Maria and another one to Cape York, yes.
Obviously, the odometry will be much more but that's another story.

[Stu]

Yeah, very true. I was thinking more of an "emotional" 10km rather than a physical one

[ElkGroveDan]

Am I right in thinking we're now just slightly less than 10km from Cape York?

I prefer to think of it as 6.2 miles. The smaller number sounds better.

[charborob]

For a smaller number, we could say that we're just over 2 leagues away. (BTW, a league being the distance a person can walk in an hour, does it mean we should be there in a couple of hours?)
<ducks>
Seriously, the official Opportunity traverse map for sol 2286 (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tm-...ty-sol2286.html) has a progress bar showing that 8km has been covered out of 19km, meaning there was 11km to go. On sol 2341, 1,24 km more had been added to the total, so, yes, I guess we're under 10 km away (depending on the twists and turns to come).