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Full Version: To the Cape! (part 2)
Unmanned Spaceflight.com > Mars & Missions > Past and Future > MER > Opportunity
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Tesheiner
This is a navcam mosaic taken after driving during sol 1559.
Click to view attachment

Mmm, remember the name of this thread?
To the Cape! Yeah! biggrin.gif
MahFL
They are nice pictures. Makes a change to see something new after so many months.
fredk
It's great to see us thoroughly out of the Quackmire! We now have a good view of potential approaches to Verde. Here's a crop from Tesheiner's mosaic. I've sketched two approaches that appear to stay pretty well on solid rocky surfaces. The black gets us close to the cliff, but not very deep - we've studied those layers already. The white route gets us deeper but not very close to the cliff. Of course they could continue past the end of the white arrow (that's where the original target lies), at the risk of getting bogged down again in loose soil...
Click to view attachment
Tesheiner
Before the, mmm, "event", I thought Opportunity would move to a point that is after the white arrow. I think the terrain at that point is traversable enough to get the rover touching the wall.
BUT the situation now has changed. At least two new issues. imo. The first is obviously the fact(?) that moving up to the wall would mean getting stuck again on the way back. The second is that after this long time the shadows are getting bigger at Cape Verde.
alan
Winter Solstice occurs in the southern hemisphere of Mars on June 26 so the shadows will soon start getting shorter.
Tesheiner
Neither the black not the white path, Opportunity has followed the "yellow bricks".
Here's the current position plotted on the navcam mosaic from sol 1559.
Click to view attachment

And the latest view from tosol (1562).
Click to view attachment
Astro0
A lo-res SFX view based on Tesheiner's positioning.
Click to view attachment
Steady as she goes girl smile.gif
Tman
And overcomes sand traps again and chocks like this:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...25P1815R0M1.JPG

Guess the two moved rocks is the spot where Oppy's middle wheel went stuck.
Tesheiner
I was a bit afraid with the path they were taking now (the "yellow" one), but have a look to today's drive results and compare with yesterday images.
Click to view attachment Sol 1562 -> Sol 1563 Click to view attachment

They moved Opportunity downhill over the sand up to the isolated slab seen on the images then back uphill almost to the same spot as before. Looking to the wheel marks I fell that the terrain is much more stable then on the previous path where she got stuck.
climber
You may say that it's easy to say it now, but it seams they are driving the way I thought they will.
Rove straight down, back-up to be sure you can (back-up), and so on.
Once they are perpendicular and deaper to the place they want to meet the cliffs, they will do a ~80° + ~80° or so left turns and go up to the cliffs. Doing this, in case of been stuck, the'll can back up going down (on the same path) which will probably be much easier to get free. Any objection to this ?
Stu
Nice view...

Click to view attachment
fredk
QUOTE (Tesheiner @ Jun 17 2008, 10:11 AM) *
Looking to the wheel marks I fell that the terrain is much more stable then on the previous path where she got stuck.

It does look like a successful toe-dip. After the quackmire, I'm still concerned about the sandy surface farther down. I wonder if they've been able to identify something about the appearance of the quackmire surface before we drove onto it that indicated it was dangerous. Or are they just trying again and hoping for the best...

Climber, it seems to me it's got to be risky to drive deeper than we need to...
mhoward
QUOTE (Astro0 @ Jun 17 2008, 12:56 AM) *
A lo-res SFX view based on Tesheiner's positioning.


That looks about right, Astro0. I was digging around in MMB for some views from other perspectives and found this one. The position based on the tracking data is only approximate, but actually it looks about right to me:

Tesheiner
We are getting closer!
This is from today's drive (sol 1564):
Click to view attachment
fredk
And the maneuvering at the end of the drive shows we've still got good traction:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...74P1312R0M1.JPG
fredk
Another big drive downslope tosol (1565). The navcam view of Verde is now reminiscent of the previous best pancam views!
Click to view attachment
If we can make it across the scattered rocks immediately in front of us, it looks like a good, drivable rocky surface at the base of the cliff...

We're now by far at the deepest point we've ever been on this mission. I wonder if these rock slabs that we're sitting on are original to this depth or tumbled down long ago.
climber
We're gonna need your "man in black" for scale, Fredk !
lyford
Sweet Fancy Moses! So nice to be moving again!
Zeke4ther
This cliff structure reminds me of sandstones I saw in Colorado that were the reminents of old sand dunes.
AndyG
Assuming the range is 16m or so, and our fredk is around 1.8m, I'd say something like this:



Andy
ngunn
Looks like the perfect spot for another picnic.
peter59
QUOTE (ngunn @ Jun 20 2008, 09:20 AM) *
Looks like the perfect spot for another picnic.


But it's very dangerous place.
We can find missing Miranda, Irma and Marion.
Click to view attachment
peter59
We are very near.
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...ARP1211R0M1.JPG
Tesheiner
QUOTE (fredk @ Jun 19 2008, 05:32 PM) *
The navcam view of Verde is now reminiscent of the previous best pancam views!

Now, look at THIS!!! blink.gif blink.gif blink.gif
Click to view attachment and Click to view attachment
http://nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportu...cam/2008-06-20/
Edited: Just 10 meters up to the wall!

QUOTE (ngunn @ Jun 20 2008, 11:20 AM) *
Looks like the perfect spot for another picnic.

Agree. It's time for another UMSF BBQ!
jamescanvin
QUOTE (Tesheiner @ Jun 20 2008, 11:45 AM) *
Now, look at THIS!!! blink.gif blink.gif blink.gif


And that sequence is labelled as: pancam_drive_dir_L7R1 !!! smile.gif wheel.gif wheel.gif wheel.gif

Amazing.

I was thinking the same about this being a nice spot for lunch. smile.gif

James
Tman
Looks like it's a popular place here - someone forgot his picnic basket rolleyes.gif

mhoward
A few frames from an imaginary movie "zooming in" on the present position:







Stu
Yes! THIS is what we came all this way to see!

Click to view attachment

smile.gif
lyford
"MY GOD! IT'S FULL OF BAKLAVA!"

It's really been a good week on Mars....
Doc
I must say this is an impressive view of the Cape.(considering my pessimism for this drive)

However if they wish to get closer, i would recomend hard hats laugh.gif
Seriously, do we have to worry about falling rocks fro the cliff? unsure.gif
fredk
Do you folks remember this Victoria's wishlist thread? If we do get a bit closer we may get a cliff tiltorama afterall! smile.gif

About falling rocks, we haven't seen anything come off any of the cliffs so far, but if she got close enough to do some grinding, who knows? blink.gif
ElkGroveDan
I am drooling at the prospect of seeing a nice clean RAT and MI of the lowest reachable layers.

I hope our skilled driver friends are back here on Earth practicing their ballet.
Astro0
QUOTE (Tesheiner @ Jun 20 2008, 08:45 PM) *
Agree. It's time for another UMSF BBQ!


Hmmm. Another BBQ. Yes, it has been some time.
I was hoping to do one around now, but the images I have of all of you just don't fit and wouldn't it be nice to include all the new faces since the last one over at HomePlate.

Perhaps this is something that we should discuss over at the Community Chit Chat thread.
My thought would be to wait until we have the mother-of-all-panoramas in colour first however.

Astro0
Sunspot
What happened to yesterdays downlink? Or did they give the rover a day off?
jamescanvin
No day off, there was a drive planned yesterday according to the tracking site. smile.gif

I was waiting impatiently for data yesterday yesterday as well. But now we are so close to the cape the Odyssey passes are going to be a lot more restricted and I can imagine a few passes may be missed. Hoping to have my socks knocked off later today. smile.gif

James
nprev
ohmy.gif ...well, there went my socks!
jamescanvin
I think the front hazcam is my favourite pancam.gif smile.gif

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...B0P1211R0M1.JPG
ugordan
QUOTE (peter59 @ Jun 22 2008, 02:37 PM) *
No comment !

The second one is awesome, great contrast of light and dark!
BrianL
Looks like a "toe dip" onto the scree (if that's the right name for this stuff). Seems solid enough. How close are they planning to get?

Brian
jamescanvin
Navcam Pan cool.gif

Click to view attachment
mhoward
QUOTE (jamescanvin @ Jun 22 2008, 07:36 AM) *
Navcam Pan cool.gif


Funny, I was just doing the same thing. I don't think I've stitched anything in over a year. But since my stitch came out more or less the same (with one additional sky image), I'll offer this instead, and thanks to Doug hosting the file: QuickTime VR movie (2.1Mb).

And I'll leave the stitching to James next time cool.gif
ElkGroveDan
QUOTE (mhoward @ Jun 22 2008, 07:21 AM) *
I'll offer this instead, and thanks to Doug hosting the file: QuickTime VR movie (2.1Mb).

Dang! That is sweet, Mike. Could you please go back and do that for every other spot we've parked at on Mars? rolleyes.gif
Tesheiner
QUOTE (jamescanvin @ Jun 22 2008, 04:36 PM) *
Navcam Pan

Did it too. What a view!
If they stop at this spot (I would prefer to go up to the wall, but shadow and UHF coverage might be a problem) the pancam mosaic (360 degrees pleeeeeaaaaaaasssssseeee!!!!) will be a hell of a view.

Edit: Just finished downloading Mike's VR shot, and I must agree with Dan.
Aussie
Go Oppy! Take the limelight back from that 'Johnny come lately' at the pole. smile.gif
Stu
New pancam images are up...

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...ncam/2008-06-23

...but boy, they're a mess! If you hate lens flare don't go and look, it's everywhere, obliterating detail on the cliffs... and I think there are a few "sunrise" images too but they're very small...

Click to view attachment
Bill Harris
What do you mean? The pancams of the cliff are exposed for the shadows, so the highlights are going to be overexposed, and with the dust-covered protective windows in sunlight, there is going to be a loss of contrast. Nothing that can't be processed out of the images.

Not optimum, but hardly a mess.

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P2445L7M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P2445L7M1.JPG
Stu
Well, good luck "processing" something out of this...

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P2445L6M1.JPG

and this...

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P2445L5M1.JPG

laugh.gif

Ok, point taken... some, not all, are a mess. smile.gif
brellis
After four+ years, my jaw still hangs open at what we're getting from these rovers!

Great QT, mike!
fredk
QUOTE (Stu @ Jun 23 2008, 12:07 PM) *
New pancam images are up...

Just to be clear, the newest of the new batch of pancams are from sol 1562 (apart from the solar filter shots), when we were much farther from the cliff than we are now. They were experimenting with exposures to try bring out detail in the shadows, which lead to severe bleeding from the sunlit areas. I have to say, I actually thought some of these heavily-bleeded images looked kind of cool, like this one.
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