Opportunity Mission Update Thread

[thechemist]

Finally, the controversy was solved.<br />In the latest, Aug 6 Flight Director's Update a very nice and calm gentleman clearly stated that Burn's Cliffs is the target of this part of the mission for Oppy. <br />In this image from the MER forum the plan is detailed.<br /><br />I can't believe that the other guy two days ago BS us that much !<br />Fangsheath, you were right ! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>I feel better than James Brown.</em> </div>

 

[marslauncher]

Take a look at this!<br /><br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/navcam/2004-08-10/1N145228292EFF34BJP1966L0M1.JPG<br /><br />Look how close Oppy is now to the "Tendrils" also Oppy has completed its first RAT hole at this depth I believe, looks like this could be a very interesting briefing next week. I feel that they should start giving a briefing once a week again.<br /><br />

 

[marslauncher]

Layering anyone?<br /><br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2004-08-10/1P142746411EFF3221P2392L5M1.JPG<br /><br />hehe.<br />Things just keep getting better and better.

 

[fangsheath]

Yep, they will have to be very careful, though, if they want to roll up to that dune "tendril." This is exactly the kind of place the vehicle could get stuck. There is still a significant slope there and little sign of rock to provide traction. I think it could be done, though. Certainly we could get very close to it.

 

[fangsheath]

Here we are seeing new morphology. This light-colored material may be the same mineral that we saw before in the form of the "razorback," but here it is forming globules in addition to sheets. Or it may be something completely new. Notice how distinct it is spectrally from the hematitic "blueberries."<br /><br />I have attempted no color correction on this image.

 

[radarredux]

August 10th seems like a banner day for Opportunity pictures -- a ton of them were added to the Exploratorium site.<br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2004-08-10/<br /><br />In the picture below, there is a side-ways 'S' shape pattern of darker soil on the right side about 40% from the top. It looks like you can see the blueberries underneath this darker soil, thus giving the darker soil the look of water.<br /><br />I would love to see a closer, clearer picture of the transition from blueberry field to the darker soil.<br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2004-08-10/1P142745074EFF3221P2391L5M1.JPG

 

[spacechump]

fang,<br /><br />I wonder if they could try to use the rock outcroppings as traction to move near one of the tendrils; presumably the tendril closest to the outcroppings.

 

[fangsheath]

Absolutely, as long as the upslope wheels remain on rock we can avoid what happened at Eagle Crater. There will still be slippage, though, the downslope wheels will sink as they try to gain traction. This could be avoided by orienting the front of the vehicle (I am presuming it is front-heavy) upslope and driving only with the upper four wheels. I'm sure testing along these lines has been done with the mockup rover.

 

[fortytwo]

If they are going to park for the winter they should point a camera at a nice thick blueberry patch (Like the one above)and take a couple pictures a day for a couple months. <br /><br />I'm just wondering if you could see anything happening to the berries in time lapse photography over a couple months. (And no, I don't expect them to walk around!)

 

[jaredgalen]

In this MI image the fragment of rock on the right appears to have broken off from the piece on the left.<br />It seems to have broken off with a very nice 90 degree.<br />The rock on the left seems to have fractures carrying on into itself, perpendicular to eachother. <br />Would this be realated to the type of rock it is or is it total coincidence. <br />I only ask 'cos it made me think of the Giants Causeway in Ireland with hexagonal paving.<br /><br />It's just a coincidence isn't it.. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/micro_imager/2004-08-15/1M145672850EFF3505P2956M2M1.JPG

 

[fangsheath]

Judging from today's flight director's update, they are indeed quite interested in getting close to one of the dune "tendrils," and are conducting testing to determine the risks involved. Even if the vehicle can't back straight up the slope, I suspect that it will be able to get out at an angle, if it comes to that, as it did at Eagle Crater.

 

[centsworth_II]

<i>"...they are indeed quite interested in getting close to one of the dune "tendrils," and are conducting testing to determine the risks involved."</i><br /><br />Steve Squyers just said as much in the press briefing. The situation is not the same, but it's interesting to note that Squyers used the same careful language that was used back when Opportunity was supposed to just creep down to the layered rock in Karatepe, take some data, and then back right out.<br /><br />I never thought at that time that they'd end up going as far as they have. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[gpurcell]

What do you make of the decreasing sulfur/bromine and increasing chlorine concentrations as one decends into Endurance Crater? That, combined with the lack of fine layers, suggests to me that the top is an evaporite sequence while the lower layers represent deposition from a deeper body of water....

 

[fangsheath]

The fact that magnesium and sulfur are decreasing more or less in parallel suggests to me that the entire stratigraphic sequence is evaporite. These are sulfates, such as kieserite (hydrated magnesium sulfate), that have evaporated from water. The increase in chlorine without a corresponding cation could be due to a change from an evaporite such as carnallite (hydrated potassium magnesium chloride) giving way to, let's say halite (sodium chloride) with depth. Such a pattern would make sense because as large water bodies evaporate, halite tends to precipitate out before carnallite.<br /><br />As for the "mystery rock," I noticed this boulder months ago on the slope below Burns Cliff. It does look odd but I am wondering if it could be a piece of the original stratigraphy that was highly altered by the event that created this crater. I imagine there must have been chunks of material that were not blasted out of the crater yet were highly altered by the impact. Perhaps this is one of them. Or maybe it is a stromatolite! I think we will get a close look at it.

 

[fangsheath]

I was kidding about the stromatolite.

 

[gpurcell]

Yeah, that was my thought exactly...that the halite would precipitate out more rapidly than some of the other salts...but I also wonder if it doesn't also mean we are talking about a halite-rich solution to begin with (e.g. salt water) rather than some of the more fanciful acidic models that have been proposed.

 

[ilbasso]

One thought I haven't heard from anyone else about the origin of the dunes inside Endurance. Obviously, they are Klingon in origin -- they look exactly like the forehead skull pates of a Klingon warrior. So this is the REAL "Face on Mars", up close! Why is the Government so adamantly refusing to acknowledge this clear evidence of extraterrestrial terraforming????<br /><br />(Just in case anyone believe this, I don't...)

 

[fangsheath]

New power generation data, Spirit has been producing about 400 watt-h on north-facing slopes, Opportunity at least 550 watt-h. In recent sols the latter generated 610 watt-h, which is actually more than it was producing on flat ground back in May. This is probably due to clearing skies. Not too shabby. Light levels will start to slowly increase in the coming months. Although many of us are looking forward to this, spring may in fact hold the greatest danger for the rovers - dust storms. A prolonged dust storm could kill the rover, depriving it of sufficient sunlight to generate power for basic maintenance.

 

[mah_fl]

I don't think the dust storms will be that bad. The rovers will of course be nice and warm in the spring and summer, so the heaters won't be needed.

 

[radarredux]

The picture link below from opportunity shows some of soil coming to an abrupt end along a "fracture", and the soil appears to be heading down at that point as well. Some of the blueberries also seem to angled down right at the edge too.<br /><br />It almost makes me think that there are hollow areas below the crater floor (e.g., from fractures due to the impact or water disolving out cavities like sink holes in Florida), and places like this edge are cracks into this hollow area.<br /><br />Are there any possibilities of such cracks and hollow places?<br /><br />http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2004-08-20/1P144428722EFF3370P2540R1M1.JPG

 

[centsworth_II]

I hope there are no dust storms. It would be a double wammy. Sunlight would be reduced somewhat, but the worst would be the coating of dust that settles on the solar panels, reducing their power production even after the dust clears. Of course, there's bound to be some dust in the martian air, as there was when the rovers arrived, but no storms, please. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[silylene old]

Radar: there was a thread on this before the SDC forums crash. There were a few places like this at the top of Endurance crater with cracks and soil falling into the cracks. <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>

 

[fangsheath]

I cannot help but notice the absence of any data from any of the RAT holes along the stratigraphic profile indicative of basalt. Remember the false-color image characterizing the slopes below Burns Cliff as basaltic? Well, we are well below those slopes now. And I seem to recall Squyres taling about eventually reaching the basalt at the bottom of Karatepe, because "we know it's down there." Well, I don't see it, and I don't hear any more about it from Squyres. I question the efficacy of long-range mineralogy by Mini-TES. Thank goodness boldness prevailed and they weren't satisfied with merely observing from the rim.<br /><br />Of course the basalt is there, it is drift and dust that has blown in and seems ubiquitous on this planet. The mineraology of the indigenous rocks is another matter.<br /><br />I think the same mistake is being repeated at Gusev. "Spectra" supposedly indicate that some rocks on West Spur are basaltic. Oh really? We shall see.

 

[centsworth_II]

<i>"I question the efficacy of long-range mineralogy by Mini-TES. Thank goodness boldness prevailed and they weren't satisfied with merely observing from the rim."</i><br /><br />The 'ground truth' being provided by Opportunity in Endurance will certainly help in re-evaluating mini-tes data of areas in the crater that can't be visited by the rover. So eventually the mini-tes data taken of the crater's interior will be usefull when used in conjunction with the IDD data from the rover. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[fangsheath]

It appears that JPL has decided to abandon the quest for the dune tendril. I assume this is because they feel that the risk outweighs the science return on a feature that probably has little to tell us about the watery history of Meridiani Planum, which after all is the point of this mission. There is a good deal of slippage on these slopes as it is, the rover ended up about 10 feet from where it was intended on a recent traverse, in the process accidentally running over a small ripple/dune! The feature can be seen in this Navcam image.