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Unmanned Spaceflight.com > Mars & Missions > Past and Future > MER > Opportunity
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Tesheiner
Time for a new thread.
After moving southwards for ages, the "detour" by the western path has started with a 60+ meters drive on sol 1942.
Click to view attachment

There are no images yet --they should be available on the next update-- so this image was calculated solely based on the rover's mobility info. I'll update the route map later.
Marz
QUOTE (Tesheiner @ Jul 11 2009, 11:57 AM) *
After moving southwards for ages, the "detour" by the western path has started with a 60+ meters drive on sol 1942.


Whoa, didn't realize Oppy was ready to move! I thought the integration at Absecon would take a few more sols. Kinda sad that it looks like we won't get to see the small Talisman crater on the approach. Is there a projected path for the western route (ustrax's route was amazingly prescient, so now I'm lost).

MarkG
So, on this last leg to the Martian west, across mostly pavement, what were the Right Front wheel's currents like?
jamescanvin
QUOTE (Marz @ Jul 12 2009, 04:03 AM) *
Is there a projected path for the western route (ustrax's route was amazingly prescient, so now I'm lost).


I made a quick guess here a while back. I don't have Ustrax's gift though. wink.gif

The 'official' route hasn't been made public yet.

James

BrianL
I thought we would have had a revised TraxMap ™ by now. wink.gif
ustrax
QUOTE (BrianL @ Jul 12 2009, 04:34 PM) *
I thought we would have had a revised TraxMap ™ by now. wink.gif


By your special request... wink.gif
Click to view attachment
Paths converge once more...not in the direction I expected (no-more-spines please!) but the important thing is that...we're roving! smile.gif
Astro0
Ustrax: "...not in the direction I expected..."

That got me thinking about taking the western route...laugh.gif
Click to view attachment

Just for laughs folks. I'm sure that Oppy doesn't think that there are "settlements over there". rolleyes.gif
BrianL
I meant really revised, Rui. What's your take on where the westward route will run?
ustrax
QUOTE (BrianL @ Jul 13 2009, 02:21 PM) *
I meant really revised, Rui. What's your take on where the westward route will run?


Haven't tought about that Brian...here's the original image of my proposed route with a rough sketch of the westward route in orange...:
Click to view attachment
I still prefer the Eastward one... tongue.gif
alan
nice view
Click to view attachment
Nirgal
QUOTE (MarkG @ Jul 12 2009, 07:18 AM) *
So, on this last leg to the Martian west, across mostly pavement, what were the Right Front wheel's currents like?

I would be interested in the answer to that question, too ...

Stu
You just beat me to it, Alan. You're right, fantastic view!

Click to view attachment
BrianL
<clink> <clink>

What are those hills and how far away are they? Have they always been visible and I just haven't been paying attention?

Edit: Wait a minute, what direction is that? If that's east, then obviously that's our goal. When I first looked at it, I thought these were some new shots in the direction we're heading.
ustrax
QUOTE (BrianL @ Jul 13 2009, 07:21 PM) *
<clink> <clink>


Oh boy...this is going to be a long night...ahahah
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&id=18432
From my ignorant perspective (I am sure James will come up with the right answer...) we can see Cook near the center and elevation to its left (Molyneaux) , we can also see the twin peaks (Banks and Solander) on the North rim but what's new are all those hills to the left... smile.gif
Are we seing the West/South part of the rim? Edgecombe and friends? smile.gif
fredk
Thanks for the heads up, guys, these are great views!

The most prominent peaks on the far left in these images are on the near (west) rim of Endeavour. All the fainter peaks are the rim of Iazu crater behind Endeavour. We've had similar views before, but the air is looking clearer now. Compare the latest view:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...PGP2599L5M1.JPG

with the view from sol 1898:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...3AP2356L6M1.JPG
ustrax
Fred, if that's Iazu, let's wrap this Endeavour story fast... smile.gif
How tall is that martian beast?... blink.gif
jamescanvin
Fred's right that is Iazu again - great view.

As to the height, Google Earth says that the peaks are 200 - 300 m above the surrounding plain.
In that image the peaks are about 10 pixels high - at roughly 40km that makes what we can see the top 100m or so.
Tesheiner
Wow, what a view! cool.gif
I saw that sequence (Iazu's pancam) in the plan but forgot to check it afterwards. The current view at the horizon is, imo, the most exciting since the beginning of this mission.
ustrax
James, sorry for asking but, that's not all Iazu, right? There are some features to the right of Cook that belong to Endeavour, or am I wrong?
I was taking this previous image as a reference:
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/figures/PIA11837_fig1.jpg
Stu
Craig Covault - speaking live on SpaceflightNow's video coverage of the shuttle launch - has just been saying that MRO has found *clays* inside Endeavour crater... and as (paraphrasing here) clays don't form/last long in acidic water, this suggests that the water there was, for at least some time, less acidic than previously thought...

Anyone know anything about this..?
fredk
QUOTE (ustrax @ Jul 13 2009, 09:25 PM) *
that's not all Iazu, right?

Right. See this post if you need convincing...
dvandorn
Stu, my understanding is that the "clays" that MRO has been discovering are the phylosilicates that have been discussed at length, especially in the site selection deliberations for MSL.

I'd have the think that any clays found within Endeavour would have to be remnants of earlier aqueous conditions than those which were involved in laying down the Meridiani sulfate sandstones. And considering there must be pieces of the crust underlying those sandstone deposits in the walls of Endeavour, I guess that's not terribly surprising.

Now we need to really hope and pray that Oppy can make it to some of the clay deposits and give them a careful examination. For one thing, clays are the most likely places to find fossilized life remnants, especially bacterial fossils. While Oppy is not all that well equipped to look for anything like that, it could very likely constrain the possibilities in a favorable manner.

Take *real* good care of Oppy for us, guys... now, more than ever, it seems the payoff if we get to Endeavour could be truly astounding.

-the other Doug
CosmicRocker
Yeah. When Endeavour became the goal, I perused the raw mineralogical maps available from MRO. I found a very small patch of possible phyllosilicates on the far, eastern side of the crater. It would be significant if newer imagery, or reprocessed imagery was indicating phyllosilicates to be more common.
Tesheiner
Today was another driving sol, where almost 70m were covered in a WNW heading.
I would expect a heading change to NW on the next two or three driving sols to avoid some "purgatoids" due west.
Click to view attachment

PS: Map update tomorrow, if time permits.
CosmicRocker
I realized that I should have better referenced the CRISM imagery I referred to in my previous post. The raw imagery I referred to is here. Apparently my recollection of the location was faulty. The small anomaly I described was not on the far, eastern side of the crater. It is closer to the center of the crater. It is on the far, eastern side of the image.

Of course, all the normal cautions apply to any interpretations of such non-calibrated imagery.
climber
I while ago somebody wrote, I think it was Phil, that we were heading to higher terrain due in a few kilometers (2?).
Does somebody know whether it's still the case or can we say the western route is just flat for a while?
You'll understand that I'm looking for a vintage high place to get a better view.
ElkGroveDan
QUOTE (climber @ Jul 16 2009, 01:31 AM) *
You'll understand that I'm looking for a vintage high place to get a better view.


millésime? sur Mars?
climber
QUOTE (ElkGroveDan @ Jul 16 2009, 04:12 PM) *
millésime? sur Mars?

...and we'll call it (Avril) Lavigne...
Zeke4ther
Ahhh....a touch of Canadian content... biggrin.gif
Phil Stooke
Can't have too much of that. smile.gif

Phil
dot.dk
Some good news in the latest update smile.gif

http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/mission/status.html#opportunity

QUOTE
Opportunity began moving again with a 67-meter (220-foot) drive. The right-front wheel motor current showed some improvement from the actuator resting and extra mobility heating.

The rover performed another long drive on Sol 1946 (July 15, 2009), covering over 70 meters (230 feet). Again, the right front wheel currents showed continued improvement.
ustrax
Hey, are these marks left my Oppy's wheels? I don't remember seing this before:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...FFP2514R1M1.JPG
Fran Ontanaya
She has done that before. The bedrock isn't very rocky.
Tesheiner
Check the navcams taken during sol 1950: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...cam/2009-07-19/
There are a few mini-craters in sight. The one to the right (NW) was named "Alvin".
Stu
Not sure which crater this is... taken my eye off Oppy during all the LRO drooling, I'll be honest!... but interesting...

Click to view attachment

And some nice little rocks for Oppy to snuffle around in, too...

Click to view attachment
Tesheiner
That's Alvin. Here's a navcam mosaic made with those pictures to put it in context.
Click to view attachment

BTW, has anybody seen Cape St. Mary these last sols? Is it still visible?
fredk
I've been watching Cape St. Mary (Beacon) in the rear view mirror. Our last definite sighting was sol 1942 navcam, though it was getting a bit hard to make out. I've marked it in this crop:
Click to view attachment
There've been north-pointing navcams since, but I can't make CSM out unambiguously (determining the exact azimuth might help). The lighting is bad (low contrast between sky and ground), but it may be that we're losing it due to topography. We're certainly no farther from CSM than we were at the last sightings.

The last good view was sol 1938 pancam:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...PGP2286L1M1.JPG

edit: this pancam view is so good (at half resolution yet), that given favourable topography we should be able to see CSM for a very long time to come, even from Endeavour (at least from the higher peaks that were visible from Victoria).
Tesheiner
There was an "albedo pan" taken during sol 1949 but I don't know if it's already downlinked or not. We should try locating the cape in those pancams; the heading is... (checking in Google Mars) ... 16 degrees CW.

And speaking again about the mini-craters, the one to the left is "Dolphin".
Stu
Click to view attachment

Others will do better, I'm sure. I just fancied having a go smile.gif
Stu
... and t'other one...

Click to view attachment
dvandorn
Hmmm... how much of what looks like good flat pavement-stone rock from MRO is actually this kind of pile-up of (relatively recently-emplaced, at least recently enough not to have eroded down to flat yet) jumbled sandstone?

Hopefully, not a lot... unsure.gif

-the other Doug
glennwsmith
Stu, very nice job on the small meteor craters. Can you imagine standing nearby when one of those babies hits?!? Any guess as to the size of the original meteorite? I'm thinking about 8 inches in diameter . . .
Tesheiner
I just checked the info from yestersol drive (1952) to find out that Opportunity moved 20m back on her own track. huh.gif
Not only that but also the nav/pancam images taken after-drive to plan the next one were pointed back towards the position she were on sol 1947.

Perhaps this path was not a safe one?

In another topic: the 17km mark was crossed near the end of this drive.
alan
Going back for closer look at this perhaps?
Click to view attachment
From sol 1946, these images weren't downloaded until after she had driven on.
Julius
What should we call that!?looks quite big to me? smile.gif
Tesheiner
It was named "Block Island".

01946::p2532::23::13::13::0::0::2::28::pancam_Block_Island_L234567Rall
Floyd
Tesheiner, would it be possible put a label for Block Island on your map (even if too small to actually see on the map image)? I'm confused as to which crater it is sitting in front of. It isn't Alvin?
fredk
"Block Island" is actually a ways south of the sol 1942 location:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...00P1962R0M1.JPG
(And it's roughly 25 cm tall.) So that would mean some significant backtracking if that were a target. I'm baffled by this reversal.

Edit: perhaps Oppy's gotten tired of seeing her destination in the rearview mirror:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...NMP1760R0M1.JPG
and she's revolted! ohmy.gif wink.gif laugh.gif
BrianL
Or this is a repeat of that programming glitch that made her go one way when she meant to go the other, although one would assume they got that issue sorted out.

I'm hopeful this is a sign that the Endeavour clays have become such a high-priority target that they have decided on the shorter, presumably quicker but riskier route to increase their chances of getting there before the overriding enemy that is time ultimately results in a critical system failure that will stop Oppy dead in her tracks. In other words, move from the philosophy that "south is the way to go, and IF we get to Endeavour, that's a bonus" to "we must reach Endeavour or die trying".

Tesheiner
No way that it would be another instance of the "glitch". The evidence is the "post-drive" mosaics because they are pointing WSW, same as the driving direction.

I would expect some news on the next status report in a few days, unless someone in the know posts some tidbits here.
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