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Unmanned Spaceflight.com > Mars & Missions > Past and Future > MER > Opportunity
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Julius
think it deserves a topic on its own
Stu
On the slope of Santa Maria...

Click to view attachment
Sunspot
Hopefully we will get some close ups of Crocodile Tale rock.... so much to see though.
belleraphon1
WHOA!!!!

I was 23 when the Viking1 lander pad image scrolled down a screen.

These journies .... Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity.

Awesome, poignant... tears in my eyes and chills down my spine!

Craig
fredk
QUOTE (Stu @ Dec 16 2010, 12:58 AM) *
On the slope of Santa Maria...

Judging from the drive direction pans, we're headed pretty much in the direction in Stu's image next drive. Perhaps to the "saddle" along the rim behind the big rock in that image? These rocks are big enough that I'm sure they'd want to go around them, not over.
nprev
Man, did I pick a heckuva day to move!!! mad.gif

But at least we've achieved connectivity here at the new, improved Casa de Nprev ( A Robot Armstm LLC property), and apparently just in time....stunning!!!

Now I gotta bust open boxes to find my 3D specs
Bobby
Anyone here see any Rocks the Rover Scientist will start investigating? I see a few including Crocodile Rock.

Maybe we should give this place a Christmas Theme? Which Rock will be named Rudolf??? Just joking rolleyes.gif
dilo
First rough stitch of Navcam pictures (alignment on the crater rim, not on the foreground)
walfy
This crater is way more fascinating than I expected. Thanks to everyone for posting the pictures. I don't mind sticking around here for awhile, if that's what they'll do.
climber
QUOTE (fredk @ Dec 16 2010, 02:46 AM) *
Judging from the drive direction pans, we're headed pretty much in the direction in Stu's image next drive. Perhaps to the "saddle" along the rim behind the big rock in that image? These rocks are big enough that I'm sure they'd want to go around them, not over.

So, the plan is to get closer and have a look at the inside, and rocks studies will comme afterward, right?
Astro0
From the most recent monthly Rover report on TPS:

1) Although there is no detailed exploration plan for Santa Maria, Squyres said that he does not anticipate the rover will venture into the crater.
That's qualified of course with: “We may pull up to the rim of this thing and find something different.”

2) “We're very excited about Santa Maria, because it is the last really spectacular thing we expect we’ll come across before the rover gets to Endeavour,” said Squyres. “Because it's in the same size class as Endurance, but appears to be a little fresher, we think there might be some interesting things to see in the ejecta," he noted. "We'll go into it with eyes open, and we'll make our decision about how long we will spend there when we see it,” he said.

3) “One of the most valuable things we did at Endurance is we took big panoramas from a couple of points around the rim that enabled us to developed a very, very good 3-dimensional digital elevation model for that crater and terrific science has come from that,” Squyres pointed out. “We will probably want to do something very much like that at Santa Maria.”

So the plan is:
1) There is no firm plan until they get a closer look
2) They think that the ejecta will be interesting (and it looks like it is) so they'll be studying the rocks (big surprise there!)
3) Expect some really nice panoramas from a couple of angles smile.gif (get your favorite stitching software ready)

Then of course, as we've all come to expect of the MER mission...something will catch the mission team's eye and everything will change.
jamescanvin
QUOTE (climber @ Dec 16 2010, 08:24 AM) *
So, the plan is to get closer and have a look at the inside, and rocks studies will comme afterward, right?


Right. Scott said on Twitter yesterday that after the next drive Oppy should be ~3m from the edge! cool.gif
Floyd
Five years ago, Scott was driving Spirit up to Comanche and who would have guessed that they would discover carbonates there. So keep you eyes open everyone... I'm feeling lucky...
climber
Thanks James and AstroNAUT, as for the route map, it's nice to see what's coming up.
fredk
I was surprized to find some specific plans in the latest update:
QUOTE
Opportunity will conduct an in-situ (contact) science campaign at the crater, which will likely extend through Solar Conjunction (through early February 2011).

In addition to a sophisticated wide-baseline stereo-imaging survey from several positions halfway around the crater, the rover will explore minerals located around the southeast portion of the crater, using the instruments on the end of the rover's robotic arm.

Obviously the mention of the SE rim could only be based on orbital imagery. Perhaps they noticed the circled area in my image, and thought it might provide easier access to layers than the rest of the rim, which seems to drop into the crater pretty abruptly most other places:
Click to view attachment
Obviously we're about to find out how it looks from the ground...
climber
I'd said this is positive. As you point out news from the sky changed the original plans in only 2 weeks or so. I'd guess a lot of speculations are going to be discussed here very soon! laugh.gif
mars loon
see my Sol 2450 article and mosaic here plus several from UMSF folks:
http://www.universetoday.com/81738/landfal...tunity-on-mars/

Click to view attachment

ken
Stu
"Tail Rock"...

Click to view attachment

There are going to be many wonderful rocks here, I think...
Toma B
There should be some amazing images coming soon to exploratorium...
Opportunity has moved closer to the rim of SM.

Click to view attachment
charborob
We're like a pack of wolves waiting eagerly to pounce on poor helpless images as soon as they appear on Exploratorium.
Stu
Some personal thoughts on our arrival at Santa Maria...

http://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com/2010/...-at-santa-maria
Stu
Well, we have our first name... and some colour shots coming up...

02451 13:13:47 p2557.26. 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 pancam_juan_de_la_cosa_L2567R12
Julius
QUOTE (Stu @ Dec 16 2010, 06:17 PM) *
Some personal thoughts on our arrival at Santa Maria...

http://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com/2010/...-at-santa-maria

I know perfectly what you mean by the ecstatic feeling of being there in person and able to see something you've been hearing about and watching on tv for most of your lifve and then getting to be there for real.It happened to me on my first visit to London in 2000;blackpool tower i've seen as well and been to golden gate bridge in san fransisco last summer and just missed out on yosemite as we didnt have enough time..but thats a good reason for me to come back to california!!!
Tesheiner
QUOTE (Stu @ Dec 16 2010, 07:26 PM) *
Well, we have our first name... and some colour shots coming up...

02451 13:13:47 p2557.26. 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 pancam_juan_de_la_cosa_L2567R12

Based on the pointing info at the tracking web, that's the Croco Tail.
ElkGroveDan
Juan de la Cosa (c.1460-1509) was a Spanish cartographer, conquistador and explorer. He made the earliest extant European world map to incorporate the territories of the Americas that were discovered in the 15th century, sailed first 3 voyages with Christopher Columbus, and was the owner/captain of the Santa María.

So did he have a reptilian-looking backside?
Stu
Santa Maria crew names here...

http://www.immigrantships.net/v4/1400v4/sa...a_nina1492.html
climber
QUOTE (ElkGroveDan @ Dec 16 2010, 08:40 PM) *
Juan de la Cosa....
[So did he have a reptilian-looking backside?

a Queue de Pie it is:
Click to view attachment
fredk
What a chasm!
Click to view attachment
And some mighty fine rover driving!
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol2451
elakdawalla
WOW!

(that is all)
Burmese
The interior, what we can already see, does indeed show some differences from Endurance.
Explorer1
Worth the wait, eh? laugh.gif

Any estimates how deep it is? We still can't see the bottom from this side.
charborob
Partial pan.
Click to view attachment
Tesheiner
Watch your step, baby!

PS: updated map, tomorrow.
NickF
*peer*

climber
Will not be very easy to get closer here or somewhere else.
The feeling of been a big hole is "higher" than what we've seen so far in the mission, I'd say.
ElkGroveDan
Hey Scott remember to set the parking brake.
climber
QUOTE (Tesheiner @ Dec 16 2010, 09:56 PM) *
Watch your step, baby!

PS: updated map, tomorrow.

Don't worry, we're not gona get lost overnight wink.gif
jamescanvin
A quick stitch

climber
We're driving forward again: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...IEP1212R0M1.JPG
Stu
What a place...

Click to view attachment
Julius
Magnificent Mars!
PDP8E
Opportunity spun around this sol and started to drive forwards for the first time in a long time.
I suspect the drivers wanted a nice clean approach with the auto-hazard software (no Maxwell Shuffles near a crater)

Click to view attachment Click to view attachment
jvandriel
Partial Navcam view on Sol 2451.
I will add more images when they
are down.

Jan van Driel

Click to view attachment
mhoward
fredk
That fhaz view is absolutely stunning. It looks like she could be on the brink of the Grand Canyon.

Definitely brings back memories of Endurance, but a lot messier.
jamescanvin
A quick attempt at matching features. My normally vertical lines aren't quite this time, largely because the ground position I took for Oppy as a basis for the reprojection of the HiRISE was a complete guess. In hindsight I think I guessed a little too close to the edge.
climber
Looks like there are some "fractures":
Click to view attachment
Hungry4info
Looks far too steep to take the rover in.
fredk
Those ID's look good, James. Following your lines you can see what the potential easy-access study area looks like, that I circled on this image (attachment has mysteriously disappeared from my original post, so here it is again):
Click to view attachment
It's heavily foreshortened from our current viewpoint, but I could imagine Oppy driving in there.
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