With Spirit starting to get on the move again (even though it's a very small first step), I think that it's high time we got a new topic going and re-invigorate the Spirit thread.

OK. Spirit's moving again after 6 months at Low Ridge.
Here's an animation of the turn (enhanced Front Haz Cam).
Click to view attachmentFile:324k

A big cheer for our little girl at Gusev.
Let's support her with lots of discussion on UMSF.

Astro0

Indeed.

Since it's like a whole new mission (albeit one that will be starting slowly), here's the Sol 1010 Navcam mosaic so far...

Great idea.

Looks like this turn was to bring the stuff disturbed by the broken wheel into arms reach. I wonder if we'll see another turn in the next few weeks to get that thin outcropping into reach?

Eppur si muove


**we know Galileo Galilei didn't said that, but it seams appropriate for Spirit

Here is first movement seen through the eyes

of the Left Rear Hazcam on Sol 1010.

jvandriel

"On the road again" good, very good.
I believe that the rover will take his road to McCool Hill, doesn't it?

I think it will be back to Home Plate...
Ready to rock!

When Spirit gets back to Homeplate, I think it will be interesting to see if its new instrument, the RFW-TT (ie: the Right Front Wheel - Trenching Tool) will first of all still allow Spirit to still climb up on top, and secondly to see what it uncovers underneath the top layer of HP material as it gets as it gets dragged up the side and across the top of the formation.

Will it uncover anything new? I call for speculation - as so many UMSF'ers are so good at doing.

Astro0

That's a good idea Astro0.
I wonder if the team will actualy use the RFW-TT as a tool. I guess it could be used to move little "flat rocks" to uncover what under looks like; we'll call it RFW-WFR then (With Flat Rock).
Doug, we need a "no longer turning weel" in the Smillies
About speculation, the easiest to think about will be salt, more salt, much more salt

For the sake of completeness, here's a front hazcam animation showing the full extent of the new movement:
Click to view attachment

It's definite; Steve says in Doug's new interview that they will be going back to Home Plate to explore thoroughly, as soon as the power levels are good enough to get off the north-facing slope. He also says the broken wheel means that our girl can't climb mountains anymore, which is too bad. But I'm sure they'll get as much science out of her as possible, and it will be exciting.

ONWARDS, SPIRIT.…

One day – next year… next week…
Tomorrow..? – you’ll absently click
Your grubby mice and find one of us died,
Leaving her sister behind, blissfully unaware
She will end her days roving Barsoom’s
Lonely ochre plains alone.

You’ll check all the usual suspect websites,
Refusing to believe that one brutal truth of which
Both of us were so aware: Out There nothing
Is immortal. Beacon-bright stars, even galaxies die; why
Did you convince yourselves a rover could live forever?

But you’ll sit there, staring
At your flat-screens, flatly denying what you’re seeing
With your own wide eyes, crying
“You’re lying!” when reading someone’s mis-spelt
Post announcing “Now there’s only One – “

It will probably not be me.

No, don’t deny it. My faithful friends, this pill cannot
Be sugar-coated. Not now, not after 1000 sols
Of eating this world’s deadly dust and gulping
Down its brittle, cracked-ice air.
Each dawn I see is one closer to my last.
My sols are short, I know that;
These old wheels have only so many
Tortured turns left before they seize,
Freezing solid in the frail duricrust
This frozen-dust covered world calls earth.

But be content! I am not spent yet! The climbing
Sun is warming me again, and as you read these words
The hoarfrost coating my cabled veins thaws!
Soon Homeplate’s layered and ragged raws
will reappear before your eyes…

All I ask is that you walk with me
For I am weary, and my ruined wheel feels
Heavier every sol: the ascent of Husband
Took its toll on me, wounding me
More than I knew. I shall not climb again.

But I am ready to move on. Too long
this rock-strewn ridge has been my home;
The stones scattered at the Columbias’ feet
call out to me again and I would gaze up at their peaks
One more time before I die..

So walk by my side, my friends; walk and talk
To me of the sunsets we have shared
And maybe I will dare to believe you
When you tell me “Your body may die,
But your Spirit will live forever…”

© Stuart Atkinson 2006

Stu,
I hope the guys and girls at SPIRIT mission control read your verse.
They have stuck with their girl throughout the winter and probably feel as cold as she does.
I'm sure that if they read your words they will feel as heart-warmed as I did.

Good stuff.
Astro0

PS: When is Stu's Book of Martian verse coming out?

Beautiful and inspiring verse, Stu!

Me too! I've tried a few times to find out if any of them have... and if they have seen the pictures artists like you make... but no success. I know Steve S has read a couple of them cos I've sent him them directly, and he said he liked them, but as for a wider audience within JPL, well, no idea...

As long as people here like them, I'm happy

"Do the teams and JPL'ers see what we do?"
I'd say that the answer is yes.

Just yesterday we had some people from JPL people visiting and they had a Powerpoint presentation which used an image I did of the Canberra DSN station superimposed with Victoria Crater.
Apparently, it's been doing the rounds at JPL and was emailed from one person to the next.
I'm told the trail leads back to SS. If so, that's cool

So Stu, if they saw my piccy, I'm sure that they read your verse as well.

Astro0

Wonderful, Stu...thank you for giving such a lyrical voice to our collective feelings!

I used to write a little bit of poetry long ago. Apologies in advance; I could never approach Stu's level, but feel inspired to try something:


Spirit Comes Home

Ruddy beauty in the dusty sunrise
marvelous rocks, a crimson layer cake of distant secrets
waiting eons for a touch.

She comes slowly, painfully now
the Spirit of an alien species
from a sister world
but this aging lady comes in peace, no invader

See her reach, and tenderly place
her solitary arm
against the strata, no longer alone
in the vast ocher wilderness
now eager to tell its tales to a sympathetic stranger

She calls to us across
the gulf of trackless space
speaking for the voiceless witness
of ancient catastrophes
and, if accident will, the drama of emerging life
cut too short?

Listen to her; she is old and wise
treasure the gems of her declining years
and know that, when what must happen does, she lived
for all of us
and will live on in us all

This is fantastic. Not only have we seen the recent movement, but we have heard some insider information from SS himself about future plans. Even if overdue, it was a very well-timed interview, considering recent events at both rovers, and not to mention MRO. I am quite the proverbial "happy camper."

Speaking of Spirit's New Adventure, surely we are all pleased to know HP will be revisited. There is so much there that everyone wants to see. That alone will be quite an adventure. I'll have to confess that I was very pleased to learn that the geological promised land will be next on the agenda. It is sad to note that it took the failed wheel to eliminate the plan to climb McCool, but I just didn't see a lot of value in stuggling to the top of another hill that is likely to display more variants of the rocks seen on the last hill.

It will still be difficult with the bad wheel, but it seems a better idea to look for something new and different along a traverse with less elevation change. Those badlands are what I would like to see in more detail, even if they cannot be climbed.

One of the things that really amazes me is that these rovers seem to be capable of surprising us more after 1000 sols than they were on sol 1.

1000 Sols have come and gone,
Yet memories still linger.
Spirit is about to move
I hope she pulls out a finger.


Doug

Was looking for Stu’s verses,
About loved rovers,
I hit a key to log,
Find a poem from Doug!

Oppo got stuck in a ripple,
And Spirit turned into a cripple,
But the folks at the Lab
Got them out of rehab,
I think they're deserving a tipple.

Anon

Oh, I don't know - maybe it's the curmudgeon in me, but imagine Spirit being a little cranky after such a long nap. She is the more surly of the two, even according to His Steveness. If I were an old rover with a gimpy wheel and a sibling who seems to get all the luck and headlines, I might have more of a reaction like this from Professor Fate upon being awoken after a nice relaxing break:

Click to view attachment
1000 sols! All in a row! Who knew it was possible?

Great poetry work all, especially that Anonymous person. He (or she) sure is prolific.

Squyres talks here about some "etched terrain" off to the southwest being the next stop after Home Plate and vicinity. Can anyone point out just what he's talking about? Thanks.

This is "important" thing to think about.
I'm sure all of us, UMSF'ers, would like to contribute in some way to the rovers exploration. I'm sure we do. From Tesheiner's route to James' MMB, from "The Imaging team whose work is published time to time" to Doug's management, from Stu's verse to Shaka humour, etc, etc, etc, (sorry for others) I'm sure all of us contribute to the success of the mission. I guess the reputation, the quality, the dedication of this forum is known inside teh JPL... and other agencies. Stu's get the point when he says that he writes verses for this forum at first but he's proud to know that JPL insiders actualy read it.
On another end, I'll be currious to know how they keep an eye on the more scientific part of the forum, mainly the geologic talks. They know by now that some people here are REAL geologists who can understand what they see, can fomulate hypothesis that others will challenge. I cannot imagine that some of "ours" hypothesis have not been considered seriously by Mer's team.
Lets face it guys, were' part of the Team.

Go get 'em Spirit...!

Click to view attachment

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” - Carl Sagan

Have a look at this fullsize pic: http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/r16_r21/im...0/R2001024.html

If you scroll down the the image there's a sort of "wrinkly" area (above and to the right of the large crater) I think that is the area he's referring to.

To me that wrinkly area looks like the remains of an outflow coming from the direction of Home Plate.

...drool! Wouldn't it be great if....nah, I can't say it.

Anyhow, I was late for the poetry parody party, so here it be:

Dusty discoveries
Glorious golf cart
Roaming rusty roads
Remotely reconning reviled ridges rife with refuse?
REJECT!
Reprogram
Roam reliably, resolutely
Seeking solutions subtle
Throughout tumultuous terrain
Universal, unanimous not Urthbound in the undertaking
Victorious across half a world
With a wink, the Spirit of humanity proudly declares
I am no xenophobe
(Why?)

Also, I think you can see it in Sol 595 PanCam images taken on top of Husband Hill.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...NP2282L5M1.HTML.
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...NP2282R1M1.HTML
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...NP2282R7M1.HTML

And in the pan released 22nd December 2005

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pan...pirit/2005.html

You can also see large crater:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...NP2284R2M1.HTML

The rippled or winkled terrain to the south seems geologically younger than the plains to me, far fewer craters are visible as compared to the adjacent plains. It also seems collapsed and appears to lie below the level of the plains. I wonder if the loss of whatever caused this surface to collapse (ice?) vented through Home plate?

A poem:

There once was a MER from Nantucket
Who saw a basalt the size of a bucket
She said with a grin, while holding her chin
Since my RAT bits are gone, I'll just buff it.

Although I'm enjoying the poetry parody party, I want to chime in and say I found Stu's original poem rather moving... and I'm not usually a big poetry fan. I would definitely buy the book

Perhaps there should also be an anthology of MER poetry by various authors... we are certainly collecting enough examples.

Here is an old flicker gif of the rough terrain.

It think that it brings out the fact that it is either depressed or surrounded by a rim. There definitely appears to be a rim or ridge separating the area from the basin. I hope Spirit is not blocked by that feature.

Note I am not geologist, and am just using terms that I am familiar with.

File size 500 Kb

Click to view attachment

Thanks for that, really appreciate it. I'm now starting to seriously consider the book thing, especially as I have lots of non MER-related poems too... Maybe a MER poetry book with a part 2 of "Misc" after it... maybe some day...

I agree; Stu is a very talented writer. Surely epochal events like the journey of the MERs require an artist to give history a voice...

There's a couple of rovers on Mars
That drive a lot slower than cars.
As they crawl millimeters
They aren't world-record beaters --
But their world floats along midst the stars!

-the other Doug

Here is the complete 360 degree panoramic view

taken on Sol 1010 with the R0 navcam.

jvandriel

"There's a couple of rovers on Mars..."

You can't beat a good limerick! Except maybe with a bad one...

(now I'm trying to make up a bad one)

edit - got it!

A couple of profs at Cornell,
Steve Squyres and young Jimmy Bell,
put two rovers together
that they drove hell-for-leather
with their buddies down at JPL

- uh, I got it from my old chum Anon.

Phil

... and in a vain effort to redeem myself, here's a polar version of jvandriel's nice new pan. The streaks on Eldorado show up really well.

Phil

Click to view attachment

My Vertical (2.5cm/pixel) and Polar:
Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

Thanks for the response - in a brief search, I couldn't find an image that showed that area.

OK, this is the Spirit one, a departure from the Victoria inspiration. Not quite right on the mix, but maybe I will tweak it sometime later.
I hope Dr. Squyres doesn't mind being guest vocalist.

Moving Again.mp3

I was imagining Spirit waking up to a signal and moving again- and then picturing the front hazcam timelapse movies of the IDD working to the beat. Powerhouse meets Vangelis were the influences, not sure if I succeeded.

(Again, admins please move me if this belongs in EVA...)

Lyford, you are a *clink* genius.
Moving Again and Victoria Inspiration are fantastic.

I think that a movie idea I have has just found its soundtrack.

Astro0

I want the album. Seriously.

lyford: I enjoyed the Victoria piece, but I must grab your new sensation on the bigger pipeline, tomorrow.
I also meant to respond to your question earlier. This is a different, but familiar view of the "Geological Promised Land" from the top of Husband Hill. The first time I heard this name used was by Squyres, in a presentation he made on his book signing tour in Houston. He ascribed its origin to someone else on the team, but I forgot who it was. It has since been mentioned several times in other venues, so one would have to suspect it is an area of interest.

It appears to me to be the kind of terrain we would call "badlands" in the western US. Ever since I first saw them I dreamed of visiting them after Home Plate, so I am excited about the possibility of Spirit visiting them. As someone suggested earlier, the intervening ridge could make that difficult. The context image is cropped from a lovely pano that slinted did.
Click to view attachment

That's awesome Lyford!

This is was I love about this place, there can't be anywhere else on the web where science, engineering, exploration, fiction, poetry, music, images, sfx, comedy... are produced and discussed so effortlessly side by side and all, as one rover PI might put it, at such an impressively high level.

James

Agree, I'm without words, it's fantastic!

Can somebody find an exemple of a terrain where Spirit went by that represent the 9° steepness limitation due to the right front weel Steve is speaking about ?

Great piece of work lyford!!!
Looks like UMSF has also awake from a conjuction!
Everybody's doing something, giving the best they have...That's just fantastic!!!

Here is the complete panoramic view from Sol 1010.

Taken with the R0 Navcam.

jvandriel

You absolutely did my friend, you absolutely did.

Like many others I'm starting to feel rather humbled by the talent gathered here. We have musicians, geologists, engineers, writers, scientists, map-makers, imagers... Just think about that mix. What does that sound like to you..?

Ladies and gentlemen, I think we should declare ourselves the first true martian settlement.

Seriously, excellent work lyford, very inspiring. I only hope Steve and the rest of the gang get to hear your music. I so often wonder how much of "our stuff" makes it into JPL and into the hallowed Halls of Power. I mean, I know we don't create these musical pieces, images and poems for them, we do it for ourselves and each other primarily, but it would be such a shame if the pages of UMSF were as far as it all went, what with all the time, love and energy everyone puts into their creations. (And no, I;m not forgetting the stunning achievements of images being featured on APOD and aviation magazine covers; I am SO proud of the members behind those pics!) I don't want to email SS directly and ask him how much of our material he sees/hears etc, that would be a bit crass, but I'm genuinely dying to know. Not for any sense of approval or bragging rights, it would just be nice to know that a) our creativity is being enjoyed by the people whose efforts inspired it, and they realise just how important this mission is to people "Out Here" now. I'd love to think that if we went around some of the MER-related centres and labs that we'd find printouts of images created by dilo, horton, nirgal, jvandriel, ant and our other image mages stuck to walls, people listening to lyford's music on headphones while tapping away on keyboards, and maybe one or two people reading my poems while grabbing a coffee between tasks. That would be kinda nice.