Opportunity Mission Update Thread

[fangsheath]

Shouldn't be a problem, there are quite a few small craters between the heat shield and Vostok. The plan is to hopscotch from one to another.<br />

 

[thechemist]

Here is an image contributed by mars_armer in the MER forum :<br />I hope he does not mind me posting the link here <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />"crater hopping" <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>I feel better than James Brown.</em> </div>

 

[fangsheath]

Opportunity has really been covering some ground recently, in fact it has already passed this little crater, which I believe is the one referred to in the last update as Argo. This update also states that dust storms in the area seem to have subsided. They may be taking advantage of this and covering as much territory as possible. The sun at midday is now a mere 14 degrees off the zenith, comparable to what it was back in late Apr, but Mars is about 12% closer to the sun than it was at that time. Every sol brings the sun higher and closer. We may well reach the point where this rover is generating more power than it was last Jan, if the weather behaves.

 

[fangsheath]

Correction, Mars is about the same distance from the sun as it was in late Apr, but does continue to move closer, headed for perihelion this summer.

 

[thechemist]

They have done an 80+155 m drive, and will continue with a back to back drive for another 150 m, according to JPL.<br /><br />Here is a quick panoramic view from the planes and Argo crater I made from NavCam images. Too large to post here <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />Argo view 1MB <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>I feel better than James Brown.</em> </div>

 

[aerogi]

That is one helluva panorama picture! Thanks a lot for 'stitching' that one!

 

[imran10]

Check out this image. Too big to post it here and thanks to Marcia from HZ board for posting this. There is plenty of that "etched terrain" to the right of Victoria Crater. On the bottom right you see what looks like a canyon-looking feature. We are talking about at least 35-40 km so yeah it's a pipe dream.

 

[jaredgalen]

How far has Oppy driven since the heatshield?<br />You can hardly see Endurance now.<br /><br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/rear_hazcam/2005-01-30/1R160328484EFF41GYP1310R0M1.JPG

 

[centsworth_II]

<i>"You can hardly see Endurance now."</i><br /><br />A mighty lonely looking scene, with the dust-mottled lens adding to the effect. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[fangsheath]

From the most recent Pancam imagery, I calculate that the largest heatshield piece is about 1660 ft away, or a little over a third of a mile.

 

[claywoman]

Well I will go along with your 'pipe dream' because the 'canyon' looks an awful lot like river tributaries swollen with water and kind of a fascinating little artifacts at almost the bottom of the picture of the tributaries, it looks like four shiny things where the flowing either starts or stops....hehe

 

[JonClarke]

We got a look at these cracks before, early in the mission. Opportuity stopped at one, called Anatolia. they look like shrinkage cracks (dehyrdation or thermal), or possibly tectonic joints.<br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[jaredgalen]

Do they intend to drive backwards aswell as forwards for this long trip? <br />To make sure no spirit like symptoms start cropping up earlier than they otherwise would?

 

[fangsheath]

Haven't seen any indcation that they want to make long backward traverses with this rover. They mght at some point, but so far the long traverses here at Meridiani have been on a drver's dream, very benign for the moblity system.

 

[larper]

One question I have always had about the rovers, wonder if anyone here knows the answer...<br /><br />The wheels put out those nice tracks with that periodic interruption in the tread. Is that "messy part" of the wheel tread there to purposely make a "tic mark" in the soil for navigation measurements, or is it just an engineering requirements for how the rover was bolted ot the lander? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Vote </font><font color="#3366ff">Libertarian</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

<font color="yellow">"...or is it just an engineering requirements for how the rover was bolted ot the lander?"</font><br /><br />BINGO! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[fangsheath]

The newest update tells us that they have in fact been doing some backwards driving, alternating blind backward drives with forward traverses using the navigation software. They intended to actually cover a lot more ground this week, and the limitation came not from Martian or rover conditions but a problem with the Deep Space Network here on earth. If the weather remains good, we may actually be able to get to Vostok Crater much sooner than I thought.

 

[marslauncher]

according to a post by Pando on the mer.rlprojects forum, Opportunity drove 245m! on sol 362, that is just awesome!<br /><br />heres the pic<br />

 

[marslauncher]

oops looks like Pando was wrong, distance was 155m<br />

 

[radarredux]

Pebble city!<br /><br />A new set of opportunity micro-images remind me of a riverbed of very tiny little pebbles. I will be very sad when they turn off these rovers and I cannot get my latest fix of new images.<br /><br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/micro_imager/2005-02-05/1M160851876EFF42D9P2956M2M1.JPG<br /><br />More images from the set can be found at:<br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/micro_imager/2005-02-05/<br />

 

[centsworth_II]

Sure doesn't look like the terrain that Opportunity is currently traversing. I suspect they are older images that have just now been downloaded. But they are fascinating. I remember Opportunity seeing areas with irregular "berries", but I don't remember them being packed so densely. <br /><br />I think the next truely new micro images will be of the newly dug trench which cuts through one of the endless duneletts, or ripples, that Opportunity has been rolling over as it travels toward Vostok. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mikehoward]

As it happens, they are from Sol 368. It looks like they are either from the trench or the small dunelet.

 

[thechemist]

It's hard to tell, since the time stamps of the MI images in question fall in between this position (trench) <br />and this one (dunelet). <br /><br />It could also be a place inside the trench pressed hard on by the wheel, maybe?<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>I feel better than James Brown.</em> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

I would be extemely surprised if those micro images of a packed field of irregular "berries" were from any time since Opportunity left endurance. There has been no sign of anything resembling them in the monotonous landscape that Opportunity has been traversing since since leaving the heat shield. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[fangsheath]

Prepare to be surprised, that shot is from the small dune that was breached by the rover. The general area is as indicated. The surface of the soil is covered with blueberry fragments, not unlike some patches we have seen before.