Opportunity Mission Update Thread

[mikehoward]

Getting closer to the heatshield...

 

[silylene old]

The heatshield doesn't look like it made much of a dent in the surface. Don't get your hopes up.<br /><br />I wish we were examining that trench that approached into the NE corner of Endurance ~~ <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>

 

[mah_fl]

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2004-12-22/1P156949002EFF4075P2357L7M1.JPG<br /><br />Closer view of the somewhat bent and buckled heat shield.

 

[silylene old]

No crater, just as I predicted. <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>

 

[blairf]

The crater is to the left of the image linked too.<br /><br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2004-12-22/1P156949544EFF4075P2357L2M1.JPG<br /><br />That said it looks more like a 'gouge' than a crater to me!

 

[fangsheath]

Only about a hundred feet from the wreck of the heatshield now, the pieces are scattered about considerable distances from each other. I estimate that the large piece on the far left is about 60 feet from the flatter piece(s) behind and to the right of it.<br /><br />I have attempted no color correction on this image.

 

[chew_on_this]

Looks like R2D2 was dropped from a speeder. Cool glint.

 

[bobvanx]

Yeh<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>They don't look too shabby at all....<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote>the solar cells really look clean. In the MI image you can see there <i>is</i> dust, but it's in the places you'd expect some protection form the wind. How is it there was this much wind? The atmosphere is so lean! And I thought these rovers were slowly building up a static charge, too?<br /><br />waitaminute... doesn't Oppy have a short in it chassis? Is it repelling dust?<br /><br />http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/m/321/1M156680048EFF3981P2979M2M1.JPG

 

[backspace]

You know, considering its shape, this thing slammed into the ground pretty hard. I'm amazed at the amount of smaller pieces laying around... any ideas on why the ground looks that color?<br /><br />Also - does anyone have stats on its supposed speed at impact and or its mass?

 

[bobvanx]

Mass must have been pretty low, since it made more of a "mark" than a "crater." Oppy could dig a deeper hole than the shell made!

 

[odysseus145]

Here is the latest of the mark/crater. It looks as though it only dug a very shallow hole. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bobvanx]

Seeing this, I hope someone on the next rover project gets the idea for an impactor. One thing they are trying to solve is precision landing. If they had three small, hard, "smart rocks" with beacons included, they could release 'em a few days before entry. They'd make nice little holes to explore, and allow some good guidance to the surface, too.

 

[silylene old]

<font color="yellow"> Here is the latest of the mark/crater. It looks as though it only dug a very shallow hole. </font><br /><br />No surprise. <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>

 

[earth_bound_misfit]

Can someone tell me what sort of distance is the heatsheild from Oppy's landing site?<br />The reason I ask this is, If there was wind keeping Oppy's solar panels clean, wouldn't it blow the sheild further down wind on entry. I guess that also Mars winds could be like Earths, that is windy one day calm the next. <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>

 

[mah_fl]

I think its about 700 Meters away from the landing point. If the wind is blowing the solar cells clean wouldn't it also blow dust onto the cells ? My impression was that the cells were mainly being cleaned by frost action clumping the dust together. Also the wind is much weaker than on earth due to the vastly lower air pressure. Remember the dust is very fine, like talcum power, not like mud dust.

 

[fangsheath]

I think it is a combination of the two. The frost clumps the dust which makes it easier for the wind to remove it. I find it significant that we have seen little indication of frost at Gusev, and no cleaning events have occurred. There may also have been small wind vortices within Endurance that aided this process.

 

[bobvanx]

Two things I notice about the heat shield: it looks inside out, and it's also very dust free.

 

[fangsheath]

I'm a little puzzled about what they are up to here. I thought they were going to take a look at the heat shield with the MI. Why are they facing away from the debris? Are they done?

 

[Swampcat]

From JPL:<br /><br /><font color="orange">"This orbital view shows the course the rover drove from its landing to its 324th martian day, or sol (Dec. 21, 2004), including the historic path of Opportunity's six months of exploration inside Endurance Crater. Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS/OSU"</font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>

 

[ilbasso]

News on another site that there is a global dust storm brewing - recent significant power drop on Oppy, also noticed on Spirit a day later.

 

[fangsheath]

If true it could explain the recent behavior of Opportunity, they want to get moving as quickly as possible. If the power levels are dropping off sharply in a matter of days, we may see our last traverse soon.

 

[odysseus145]

Could they survive a global dust storm? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mikehoward]

Looks like they were driving backwards just for the heck of it? Anyway, they've turned around to face the debris now.

 

[fangsheath]

It's not that they were driving backwards, but they did make a curious little yaw to the right to face directly away from nearby debris. Then they yawed 180 degrees and drove up to it. Perhaps they were testing something with the mobility system.<br /><br />Anyways, this shot shows some of the honeycomb that makes up much of the heatshield, but I don't know if this is the aluminum honeycomb or the phenolic material from the outside of the heatshield (which is filled with the ablator). Perhaps someone more familiar with the technology can enlighten us.

 

[backspace]

Well, the heatshield weighs 79 kilos, so I guess it's not surprising that at 30,000 feet or so it turned inside out when it hit the ground... It does have a less than aerodynamic shape but it's difficult to calculate what the terminal velocity would have been... but from seeing all these pictures, looking at the data, I'm going to go out on a limb and say the heat shield impacted on a surface with some relatively hard rock just underneath the dust. The lack of any substantial cratering is the biggest clue to me...