Opportunity Mission Update Thread

[ilbasso]

"I'm getting vertigo!"<br /><br />In that last image Mike points to, Oppy's solar "wings" and the steep, steep tilt make me think of our plucky rover as a fly clinging to the wall of the crater.

 

[mikehoward]

Seriously, I wonder what is the maximum safe inclination for the rovers before they risk tipping over. Somebody tell Oppy Mars is not supposed to be a roller-coaster ride.

 

[anoolios]

A couple close up pan cam images of the streak marks:<br /><br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2004-11-08/1P153044230EFF37LJP2443L2M1.JPG<br /><br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2004-11-08/1P153044288EFF37LJP2443L5M1.JPG<br /><br />It is interesting how the streaks continue over the unconformities.<br /><br />

 

[ilbasso]

There are some pretty good scuff marks evident at <br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2004-11-08/1P153041457EFF37LJP2443L5M1.JPG<br /><br />Oppy's chugging and slipping and sliding along, but not having nearly the problems she had when leaving Wopmay.<br /><br />Quite an incredible set of wheels! I wish I could have that kind of traction this winter.

 

[silylene old]

The manner in which the stone surface is slightly pillow-shaped, with a very gradual sloping down to each streak encourages me to think that a water erosion process formed small channels, which subsequently got filled with a darker dust, giving the streak-like appearance.<br /><br />I wonder if the origin of the streak channels were long-ago water seeps? I also note the larger channel on the outside side of the crater wall which seemed to stop at the cliffs. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[thechemist]

Those strikes are very interesting, until we are told once again they were formed by wind and not by a liquid erosion process. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />The latest update on Oppy reveals the tale of the sand traps.<br />OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Journey toward 'Burns Cliff' Continues - sol 265-271, November 08, 2004<br /><br />However, the fact that these updates lately tend to be ancient history when published (we are on Sol 283 at the moment) leads to comedy moments like this at the end of the update:<br /><br /><i><font color="yellow"> "The result of this drive calls into question Opportunity's ability to reach Burns Cliff with the current approach. The team is assessing other possibilities."</font></i><br /><br />Hello there, Oppy is already at the base of the cliff, we have seen the images on your site <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>I feel better than James Brown.</em> </div>

 

[thechemist]

There are some pretty bright rocks in this NavCam image from Sol 280.<br />http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/n/280/1N153044734EFF37LJP1909R0M1.JPG<br /><br />A PanCam closeup on the one closer to the camera <br /><br />http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/p/280/1P153043122EFF37LJP2443L2M1.HTML<br /><br />reveals this thing is probably not a rock at all but it looks more like salt crystals on which bluberries have rolled !<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>I feel better than James Brown.</em> </div>

 

[silylene old]

Wow!<br /><br />I wonder how blueberries could've rolled onto the big mass of presumed salt crystallization material! I sure hope we manuver closer for a closeup and RAT analysis. <br /><br />I wonder if the presumed salt material masses formed up higher, at my hyopthetical water vent holes, and then broke off and fell downslope. They certainly don't look like they originated in their current location! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[astrophoto]

Those are really bright! Salt would be very interesting indeed. Any other options?

 

[astrophoto]

An odd pile of rocks - navcam image.<br /><br />http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/n/280/1N153028533EDN37LJP1580L0M1.HTML<br /><br /><br />

 

[centsworth_II]

<font color="yellow">"Any idea what caused the increase of power? It was thought that the solar panels may have lost a dust layer.... I thought that Van der Waals forces would make the dust stick."</font><br /><br />It's been my own earth-based experience that dust is pretty tenacious and not likely to just "slip" off a surface. Didn't the increase in power happen just as the rover was arriving at the base of Burns Cliff and couldn't the rover be now tilted in a better orientation to the sun? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[fangsheath]

The first reports of power increase occurred well before the rover reached Burns Cliff, when it was still fairly close to Wopmay. Jim Erickson is quoted as saying that there have been 2 or 3 significant "cleaning events." There are sol-to-sol jumps in the power generation rate. One hypothesis forwarded earlier was that frost may be forming on the panels at night, causing the dust to clump. The next day, the ice sublimes and the clumps are then susceptible to being removed by the wind.

 

[bushuser]

Some well-planned imaging should determine whether frosting & defrosting has occurred on the panels, and the status of dust on top.

 

[exoscientist]

Thanks for the link Chemist. Those are some pretty starting imges.<br /><br /> Bob <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

Mmm... dust sure is complicated. <br />I don't know about dust devils, but maybe there <b>are</b> swirling winds in the crater. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[fangsheath]

A caption for this image of Burns Cliff on the Planetary Photojournal states that the team has decided not to proceed any farther along the cliff than the light-colored rock near the center of the image. This means that the rover will end up a little short of the highly angled cross-bedding but should still get a pretty detailed look at it with the Pancam. It also implies that further examination of Burns Cliff will be brief; the rover will proceed back westward to exit Endurance. They may want to take advantage of the fortuitous power increase and get moving south as soon as possible.<br /><br />http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07039<br />

 

[mikehoward]

Etched terrain, here we come. I must say I'm looking forward to seeing some new sights. <br />http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/rover_updates_041111.html <br />http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2004-276

 

[thechemist]

Press Releases, November 11, 2004<br />"Operators of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity have determined that a proposed route eastward out of "Endurance Crater" is not passable, so the rover will backtrack to leave the crater by a southward route, perhaps by retracing its entry path."<br /><br />Fangsheath you were right.<br />Maybe this is a good chance to observe on the way out some of the disturbances Oppy created several months ago <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>I feel better than James Brown.</em> </div>

 

[earth_bound_misfit]

Wow, thats an awesome landscape! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------- </p><p>Wanna see this site looking like the old SDC uplink?</p><p>Go here to see how: <strong>SDC Eye saver </strong>  </p> </div>

 

[thechemist]

These two PanCam images of the dunes were taken with the same filter and 56 seconds apart. Is it dust we see ? Is it over the dunes, or above Endurance (we are far away from the dunes right now) ? It doesn't look like camera artifacts, but I'm no expert.<br /><br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2004-11-16/1P153841839ESF37MIP2548L7M1.JPG<br /><br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2004-11-16/1P153841895ESF37MIP2548R1M1.JPG <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>I feel better than James Brown.</em> </div>

 

[thechemist]

Getting a bit cloudy over Endurance...<br /> Sol 290 NavCam image <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>I feel better than James Brown.</em> </div>

 

[thechemist]

and specifically above Burns Cliff <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />Sol 290 NavCam image <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>I feel better than James Brown.</em> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

That is so extremely cool. Clouds in an alien sky! They look like cirrus clouds on Earth. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[thechemist]

There are also some press-release images of clouds from earlier Sols at the JPL site, released on Nov. 17 : Clouds over Endurance <br />However the clouds there are difficult to see, and not the least as spectacular as the above. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>I feel better than James Brown.</em> </div>

 

[mikehoward]

I think the images they posted may be less spectacular because they are "de-stretched" (the artificial contrast is removed) so that they more resemble "reality". In the corresponding raw image the clouds are far more visible. <br /><br />Raw image: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/n/269/1N152063405EFF37B5P1910L0M1.JPG<br />Adjusted image: <br />http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mer/2004-11-17/End_Cloud_sol_269-med.jpg<br /><br />I'm afraid if you were actually standing on Mars looking at them, the clouds would actually look like the more washed-out version - but please correct me if I'm wrong!