Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Rxke · 2004-01-25 07:19:11

While looking for new pics, found this neat one: the lander of spirit, sitting alone in Gusev. Gives a nice idea of perspective, distances...

(edit: caption added:)
"This image mosaic of Spirit's lander taken by the Pancam panoramic camera shows the rover's landing site, the Columbia Memorial Station, at Gusev Crater, Mars. This spectacular view may encapsulate Spirit's entire journey, from lander to its possible final destination toward the east hills. On its way, the rover will travel 250 meters (820 feet) northeast to a large crater approximately 200 meters (660 feet) across, the ridge of which can be seen to the left of this image. To the right are the east hills, about 3 kilometers (2 miles) away from the lander. "

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-25 07:27:46

Rxke, I originally thought that picture was CGI! It's really excellent, though. Speaking of that picture, the MOC guy (MGS Orbiter Camera), Mike Malin I think, noted that once Spirit is far enough away from the lander, we should be able to image it. So that's going to be fantastic, to image it as it goes across the surface of Mars.

But back to Opportunity. I think one of the most fantastic things here is that Opportunity is going to be able to drive straight off. No turning, no messing around. I think we're going to get egress very quickly on Opportunity. I think Opportunity is going to start really moving on the surface before Spirit!

JasonF · 2004-01-25 07:35:24

I did find a picture that might explain the culprit in Spirits malfunction.

mars_modu_la_tor!.JPG

And here is the latest from Spirit after rebooting.

Rxke · 2004-01-25 08:13:15

You forgot to paint the sky blue!

Seriously, the hazcams show how perfect the retraction went, there is not a trace of the airbags to see, are they using a new sequence or is this another proof of the extreme smoothness of the soil?
(can be a combination of both, of course, that they got experience in doing the retraction with Spirit)

Ow Man.... And Spirit from critical to serious... This is good for JPL...

Congrats to all of the people working there. Amazing team.

Stu · 2004-01-25 08:30:35

Been looking closely at a hi-res image of the first colour pic...

[http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … d_part.jpg]http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery....art.jpg

... and I'm just a little concerned about something... I'm wondering if this crater Opportunity has landed in is a dust sink of some kind. Why? Well...

a) Right at the top of the image there, on the right, there's a very obvious pink-tinted rock outcrop which appears to be emerging from quite deep, dark material...

b) Running from the right to the left, across the top third of the image, is what appears to be an apron of dark, fine material, with very pronounced ripples in it. They look very much to me like slump features, as if the material has somehow spilled down from the top right, in a fan across our field of view... have to be quite deep to do that, right?

c) the "Magic Carpets" 'pancakes' near the base of the image are VERY flat, suggesting the airbags compressed quite thick deposits rather than shalloow ones. You can see on the pancake on the far right that the only feature on it is a very pronounced slashed groove, which is probably a seam from an airbag. Elsewhere, i.e. nearer the lower left, the "Magic Carpet" material shows very deep markings, but is still quite flat on top.

Add all this upm (I know, adding 2 and 2 to get 5... I'm just speculating!) and looking at that image I can't help wondering if what we're seeing is a windblown dustfield inside a crater of some kind.

And is it me, Josh, or does the brighter, pink-black material look more like cinders than dust?

Rxke · 2004-01-25 08:42:11

had a bit of the same concerns... My first imprssion was, whoa, desert, sand-dunes... And then... directly after that: how's Opportunity supposed to get through that stuff? How deep is it, how powdery...

Rxke · 2004-01-25 10:33:13

In this [http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zm.html]Spacedaily article, not so much new stuff, but one thing that might be notable: Charles Elachi, of JPL is confident 'without any hesitation' that Spirit will be restored to 100% operational, thoug NASA officials are more cautious.

Marineris Sauce · 2004-01-25 10:42:53

About the 'Magic Carpet' material, just a thought but taking into account the temperature (very cold), and consistency of the powdery, grainy surface (like someone elses analog of moon dirt), including the possibility of subtle amounts of moisture, plus the very low atmospheric pressure - what comes to mind is... hard 'ice cream'. Think about it for a second...Take a scoop and try to make a dent in the surface....nada...., but scrape the surface and what do ya got?

MAGIC CARPET...!!!

Martian Vanilla anyone?

Palomar · 2004-01-25 10:53:17

I did find a picture that might explain the culprit in Spirits malfunction.
[http://jfreeland.net/images/mars_modu_la_tor!.JPG]http://jfreeland.net/images/mars_modu_la_tor!.JPG

*LOL! That was great, JasonF.

Well, he did always did say (with nonchalance): "I'm going to blow up the Earth; it obstructs my view of Venus."

I guess Marvin's doing all he can to thwart us, true to form!

--Cindy :laugh:

::EDIT:: Rik writes: "Ow Man.... And Spirit from critical to serious... This is good for JPL...

Congrats to all of the people working there. Amazing team."

*Hear, hear! I heard it announced on TV (live, last evening) that Spirit's condition had been upgraded by one of the JPL team. Splendid! C'mon Spirit...you have competition now, baby!

remcook · 2004-01-25 15:01:32

next press conference!

beginning now

remcook · 2004-01-25 15:05:31

descent images are also there

[http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … _e001.html]http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … _e001.html

Rxke · 2004-01-25 15:16:54

they've confirmed to be in a 20 m crater... WOW first hi res of the outcrop! it's in!

Rxke · 2004-01-25 15:20:15

Steve is really excited, ecstatic!

They see a thick sequence of layered rocks, with above that a coating of fine grains, and they think that's the hematite. The dark color could be caused by the hematite...

Rxke · 2004-01-25 15:23:14

About the descent images... Check the last one, that black spot next to the big crater is actually the shadow of the parachute.

Steve says they're going to climb out of the small crater they're in, and go to the big one... He says he doesn't see a problem getting out, it's a couple meters deep...

Doug: Moss should give good info about hematite.

Rxke · 2004-01-25 15:31:57

Forget the magic carpet, did you see [http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … 67R1M1.JPG]this Spirit image?

remcook · 2004-01-25 15:33:11

are these new ones? ???

Rxke · 2004-01-25 15:37:36

It was a Spirit sol 16... so not spanking new, but i wa just goofing around, looking for that new hires one of the outcrop...

anyone found it? Stu, brace yerself!

remcook · 2004-01-25 15:38:14

yup

remcook · 2004-01-25 15:38:56

something like this?

[http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … 03L2M1.JPG]http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery....2M1.JPG

Rxke · 2004-01-25 15:44:02

Not sure, thougt the one they showed was not so dark...

BTW, Opportunity is really right next to the outcrop:

this pic is so questions provoking... i'm dumbfounded...

remcook · 2004-01-25 15:47:06

that's just a matter of lightening things up to make them look pretty for the cameras. But maybe it is another picture.

some more...

[http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … _p001.html]http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … _p001.html

Rxke · 2004-01-25 15:47:23

on second thought, Rem, it must be the one... WHAT are all those black dots? puzzling, puzzling...

Palomar · 2004-01-25 16:06:39

*What gorgeous photos! So crisp, so there, like you can reach out and sift your fingers through that marvelous soil.

This is what it's all about.

Anyone know when we'll be getting color pics from Opportunity? I haven't seen any yet (I think I've gone through all the nice links provided so far by others here -- thanks!).

--Cindy

RobS · 2004-01-25 17:07:38

I am blown away by this landing site. I worked on Viking as a graduate student, so my image of Mars is a stonescape. Sojourner confirmed that image. But now Spirit and Opportunity have shown very different "Marses," places that are flatter and gravely or sandy. And Opportunity has bedrock; flattish, polished, with noticeable fracture patterns in it and (I think) stratification in one spot (which might mean it's sedimentary). This isn't lunar regolith. I don't think its basalt; the cracking pattern looks wrong. It looks like a massive sedimentary rock, almost like a carbonate (though I'm sure it isn't carbonate). I can't wait to see the chemical analysis.

I could see a pressurized rover with a crew on board zooming over landscape like this at 30 miles an hour. Add a bulldozer blade to slowly clear a dirt track, and you could go 40 mph/70 kmph on it. I could see a group of unmanned supply ships easily touching down at either landing site and unrolling solar panels across the flattish gravel with little trouble. Not so at Viking 1; that spacecraft just missed "Little Joe," a boulder the size of a small refrigerator!

And just think, at either site, a good drill with 100 meters of casing will almost certainly hit rock with a few percent ice in it. Pump down heated Martian air, and up will come Martian air with water vapor.

-- RobS

Stephen · 2004-01-25 19:45:26

Those who have been speculating on the "magic carpet" at the Spirit site (and now perhaps Opportunity's also) might want to check out p6 of the current issue of New Scientist magazine where one possible explanation has been floated: that if the stuff is indeed mud the water responsible could consist of brines. That is, intensely salty water.

As the article goes on to point out, that would be consistent both with Gusev having once been a lake (as the lake dried out any salts in the water would become more and more concentrated) and with the findings from Odyssey of a small proportion of subsurface water being present even at some equatorial latitudes. While subsurface ice has usually been invoked to explain the Odyssey finding, as the article points out brines could explain it also.

(It also points out that it would also cause problems for the usual explanation of the Viking lander results testing for signs of life: that exotic superoxides were responsible.)

=====
Stephen

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#226 2004-01-25 07:19:11

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#227 2004-01-25 07:27:46

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

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Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

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Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

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#232 2004-01-25 10:33:13

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Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

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Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

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