Opportunity & Spirit **8** - ...More...

Palomar · 2004-11-22 21:22:25

http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/imag … ml]Forgive me this indulgence

*But it is the best pic yet of those clouds above Endurance Crater's edge, IMO. :up: Can't let it pass, SORRY. Such fine detail -- crisper, "closer" image it seems.

Maybe this is a different pic, though? The angle of the main cloud and then that wispy dollop beneath it...

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-11-23 07:43:01

Is]http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=h_spirit_trail_1119_02.jpg]"Is this my best side?"

*Some of this is a repeat of info. The pic above accompanied the text:

November 23
Mars Rover Spirit Takes a Brake
Busily surveying the Columbia Hills at Gusev Crater, NASA’s Spirit Mars Exploration Rover continues to suffer a bit of a “brake down.”
Rover drivers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California continue to deal with Spirit wheel and brake issues. While surpassing its original warranty, Spirit has intermittently sent information in recent weeks that the brakes on two wheels were not releasing properly when the rover received commands to set a new course.
*---->Recent images relayed by Spirit’s navigation camera show in graphic detail what ground operators are dealing with. A westward view from the robot shows the effects of dragging its right front wheel, explained Leo Bister, Spirit mission manager.
The image shown here was taken on November 19, during Spirit’s 313th day of martian operations as the rover drove backwards for about 98 feet (30 meters) on the day the picture was taken, Bister confirmed to SPACE.com.<----*
This type anomaly has not been observed on the Opportunity rover as it wheels around Endurance Crater on the other side of Mars.

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2004-11-23 08:02:01

I'm afraid dragging that wheel like that will cause accelerated wear and tear somewhere else. It doesn't look good.
:bars:

C M Edwards · 2004-11-24 14:44:07

Spirit was subjected to more adverse conditions than Opportunity. It has driven further and been in use longer. It's to be expected that it would have parts wear out.

The word from JPL is that this failure won't stop the rover. I believe them. Spirit also has fewer power system problems than Opportunity, making it more likely to survive into the stormy Martian winter. It may be overly optimistic, but I expect to see another ten months of images from Spirit.
Opportunity, on the other hand, is much more vulnerable to reduced solar power. It had better get out on that big parking lot at Meridiani and start driving soon, because its last "deep sleep" is coming.

djellison · 2004-11-24 16:27:55

Actually - the exact opposite is true.

Sat in Endurance crater - Opportunity is getting more than 800 WHr's per sol - compared to the roughly 1000 Whr's per sol on the day of landing. This is more than enough to operate and have a verbose science program as well. Despite it's stuck heater switch on the IDD - it's only using deep sleep occasionally, because power is so good at the moment. This excellent power situation is for many reason - but the main one is that being on the SW rim of the crater gives it an excellent tilt to the sun - and infact leaving the crater as it will in a few days will see the daily power drop slightly - to perhaps 650 or 700 Whr's per sol as the sun incidence angle increases a little by being on the flat terrain outside the crater.

However - Spirit - is struggling along on as little as 400 Whr's per sol. Depsite a favourable tilt that it also has, the sky's are murkier, the local season less favorable and the solar arrays much dirtier. Whilst it's not a critical situation, and it is an improving situation, of the two rovers, it is the one with power issues, not Opportunity.

Doug

Palomar · 2004-11-25 07:37:23

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mer … ]Finishing Up in Endurance

*Hmmmmm.

Opportunity has now reached the furthest point east in its travels inside "Endurance Crater." Rover drivers have determined that there is no safe path beyond the current position.
Therefore, Opportunity is now in the midst of an intensive remote-sensing campaign, capturing a panorama of Burns Cliff plus super-resolution images and miniature thermal emission spectrometer observations of selected targets.
When this campaign concludes, the rover will back away and head for a way out of Endurance Crater. Opportunity remains healthy and in an extremely advantageous solar array attitude.

*Maybe I'm making a bit too much out of "no safe path" in my mind. Probably is just "a given"(?). Really am hoping Oppy won't be stuck in there. :-\

Shaun: ...about getting to Victoria Crater before the onset of the global dust-storm season.
It seems from Dr. Squyres' assessment of the situation that Victoria Crater may be out of reach anyway. But the etched terrain is a worthy target to look forward to, and there's the heat shield and the "cobbles" strewn along the way to keep us amused in the meantime.
It's good to know they think they can get Oppy over to the etched terrain in a month or so, depending on other attractions we may come across on the journey, of course. It looks hopeful that we'll get to see lots more useful science and discoveries before the weather turns nasty.

*Yep, and I know we're all still rooting for Oppy to actually get to Victoria Crater. :up: C'mon Oppy...prove Dr. Squyres wrong!

--Cindy

atomoid · 2004-11-29 03:51:25

ok, time to revive this neglected thread. I just noticed http://mars.lyle.org/imagery/2P15459570 … JPG.html]a UFO imaged by Spirit. Okay, maybe thats a Unidentified Flotsam Object, as it seems a bit too dark to be actually be a martian bird or something flying on the wind, id assume if it were it would be a bit more washed out by the atmospheric effects, but then, maybe its a fly or a something very close to the camera lens, that would allow ti to be dark as seen. it also seems to be in prety good focus, which makes me thnk its at least a few feet away from the lens, i dont know what aperture the pan lenses have but id expect it to be a bit blurrier if it were actually a dust mote on the lens itself, and would also i assume be in more than one frame like the other small and blurry dust motes that are visible on this frame and repeated on many other Spirit Right Pancam #2 filter images. it doesnt show up in the Left pancam image taken at the same exact time. so its apparently must be within a several inches of the camera lens to be out of frame for the that shot. so it cant be too far, but it cant be too near, right?

This is the biggest peice of mystery flotsam ive yet seen, any theories?

GraemeSkinner · 2004-11-29 04:56:46

ok, time to revive this neglected thread. I just noticed http://mars.lyle.org/imagery/2P15459570 … JPG.html]a UFO imaged by Spirit. Okay, maybe thats a Unidentified Flotsam Object, <SNIP>
This is the biggest peice of mystery flotsam ive yet seen, any theories?

Dirt on the lens perhaps, I'd have said missing data but that normally comes up as squares. There's also a smaller black object to the right of the one you pointed out.

Graeme

Shaun Barrett · 2004-11-29 05:13:23

Damned martian kids, hiding behind that hill and throwing stones!! :rant:

Palomar · 2004-11-29 08:06:50

Damned martian kids, hiding behind that hill and throwing stones!! :rant:

*Don't you mean throwing mud? As in mud pies? Marsian kids and Earth kids; uh-oh, what other similarities? Doubtless rolling down hills on their sides...making sand angels...probably have squirt guns too. :laugh:

-*-

Atomoid: ok, time to revive this neglected thread.

:hm: Post previous to yours was just 4 days prior.

-*-

BTW, I checked the NASA/JPL homepage. Still no update on Oppy -- same old news (same for Spirit). Am getting a bit more anxious as to whether or not Oppy can get out of Endurance.

--Cindy

Visited by moderator during Post Repair ... no changes

djellison · 2004-11-30 05:50:22

Dont worry about Oppy at all - it's about 5m short of the rim, somewhere between the entry point, and Burns Cliff.

I think we'll see a genuine exit attempt this week

Doug

Palomar · 2004-11-30 07:57:13

Dont worry about Oppy at all - it's about 5m short of the rim, somewhere between the entry point, and Burns Cliff.
I think we'll see a genuine exit attempt this week
Doug

*Thanks for the reassurance, Doug. New from the NASA/JPL homepage:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … tml]Spirit studying soil

*Two nice new images.

Scientists think the light-colored material may be a global layer of airfall dust...Spirit has encountered a thin (approximately 1 millimeter or 0.04 inch thick), light-colored, fine-grained layer of material on top of a dark-colored, coarser layer of soil.

--Cindy

P.S.: I sometimes try to imagine how quiet it must be on Mars. And can't help wondering (despite the thin atmosphere and the result of that on the traveling of sound waves) how far away from their sites one could be and still hear Oppy and Spirit moving about.

Shaun Barrett · 2004-11-30 08:18:32

Cindy:-

I sometimes try to imagine how quiet it must be on Mars. And can't help wondering .. how far away from their sites one could be and still hear Oppy and Spirit moving about.

That's a very Zen thought, Cindy.

If a Mars Exploration Rover moves in the martian desert and nobody hears it, does it make a sound?

Very evocative! That thought had me right there in the thin cold air, watching a MER moving in the distance, and I could just hear the feint distorted sound of scrunching on the sand.
I really enjoyed that new perspective. Thanks, Cindy! :up:

Josh Cryer · 2004-11-30 08:24:50

Damned martian kids, hiding behind that hill and throwing stones!!

Hahaha, thanks Shaun, you made my morning with that. I needed it.

atomoid, since you rightly pointed out that it wasn't in both the left and right pancam images, I'm not too convinced it's anything significant at all. Dirt most likely. Let's see if it shows up again.

Palomar · 2004-11-30 14:18:38

Cindy:-
I sometimes try to imagine how quiet it must be on Mars. And can't help wondering .. how far away from their sites one could be and still hear Oppy and Spirit moving about.
That's a very Zen thought, Cindy.

*Thanks Shaun...but I think you're giving me a bit too much credit. Your interpretation is very interesting, though.

If a Mars Exploration Rover moves in the martian desert and nobody hears it, does it make a sound?
Very evocative!

*I'm sure it does, same as the hills in the 2nd photo are there regardless of Spirit or its camera being there (I do know the Zen "question" you refer to).

That thought had me right there in the thin cold air, watching a MER moving in the distance, and I could just hear the feint distorted sound of scrunching on the sand.
I really enjoyed that new perspective.

*Feeling the thin wind tugging at one's clothing, etc. The sounds I "hear" in my mind's ear are the faint whirring hydraulic noises of machinery itself. Of course, I don't know if either MER has hydraulics (or if I did know, I forgot). :laugh: Guess I could Google for that info...but I'm simply chatting.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-12-01 09:14:18

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … .html]That 360-degree panorama pic...

*...at the bottom of this group of photos is enough to induce vertigo. :-\ Oppy at the wall, etc.

--Cindy

djellison · 2004-12-01 09:33:18

At a best guess - Oppy's current position is right on the right hand edge of this large image - http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … ...6R1.jpg - just infront of the small jumble of rocks situated at about 295,-3

Doug

Palomar · 2004-12-01 12:10:51

*Wow -- what a panorama! Feels like I'm scrolling for miles and miles.

Funny -- looks like a hooded person peering up over the ridge at just about the halfway point, to the left of where the cliff wall seems to rise abruptly higher. One of the "Sand People" from Star Wars? :;):

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-12-08 07:02:21

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mer … tml]Edging out of Endurance

Opportunity has now begun its journey out of "Endurance Crater."
While in the crater, Opportunity has experienced drive slippage of up to 100 percent and tilts as high as 31.05 degrees.
The rover was pushed to its traverse limits, but continued to perform all that was asked of it.

*Oppy's still in excellent health and solar power is good. Has been looking for clouds, etc., as well.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-12-09 07:36:51

Spirits]http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=15643]Spirit's Trek

*Shows position of Spirit on Sol 149; yellow line traces path Spirit has taken at Columbia Hills; distance covered despite that bum wheel, etc. :up:

Spirit takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Remember late last January or early February, when they thought Spirit had suffered an early demise and they nearly pronounced it
dead? This MER was aptly named -- lots of Spirit.

Spirit is currently headed east, traversing the flanks of the hills en route to an overlook above a steep valley

*Am certainly looking forward to that view.

--Cindy

::EDIT:: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mer … ml]Digital Elevation Map

djellison · 2004-12-13 07:05:56

Opportunity is out -

No - this isnt a very old image being downlinked - this was taken at 18:30 yesterday GMT

Doug

GraemeSkinner · 2004-12-13 07:24:23

I take it from the image the front wheels were suspended for a while as it came over the edge of the crater as the wheel tracks don't go all the way to the edge. But the point at where the track starts looks like there was a bit of wheel spin whilst it got enough traction to get moving.

Graeme

Palomar · 2004-12-13 08:37:55

*Yay!! :band: Way to go, Oppy.

And look at all those little "berries"! Maybe Chuck Jones* was onto something? :hm:

--Cindy

(*Chuck Jones of Looney Tunes fame -- "Hareway to the Stars" starring Bugs Bunny with all those "Instant Martian" pellets, LOL!)

Palomar · 2004-12-13 15:54:02

*This just in:

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ro … Earth-like clouds and a "new" type of rock

A much-needed shot in the arm (besides Oppy getting out of Endurance). :up:

the exposed rocks of the Columbia Hills, thought to be billions of years old, reveal an extremely complex structure and range of mineral types.
"We're stunned by the diversity of rocks," Squyres said. "This stuff looks like it was put into a blender."

Opportunity, back on the Meridiani Planum, took pictures of wispy clouds that look strikingly like cirrus clouds on Earth.
"This is just a totally spectacular image," said NASA rover scientist Michael Wolff as he presented the first image. And upon unveiling the second: "I can't get enough of these."
Wolff said the clouds are almost surely made of water ice. They've been spotted by orbiting spacecraft before and are known to occur near the equator -- where the rovers are -- only when Mars is at aphelion

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-12-14 08:21:38

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mer … ml]Bedrock and rubble

*Rock hounds might like this new article.

--Cindy

New Mars Forums

Announcement

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