Mars Exploration Rovers (MER)

Palomar · 2005-05-27 05:46:07

http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/imag … l]Colorful Quagmire

*Interesting image obtained by Oppy. The red areas indicate higher terrain areas, green lower. Difference averages 28 inches.

Perhaps two weeks (or more) until Oppy gets unstuck. So far it has moved 10 inches in 11 days.

--Cindy

aldo12xu · 2005-05-28 20:27:06

Thanks Shaun and Rxke! The site's slowly coming together but it'll probably take me a year to get it to the level I'd like......one thing I wondered about this forum.....Isn't it affiliated with the Mars Society? For that reason I'm surprised it's not more active. Or is the forum recent?

REB · 2005-05-31 07:12:27

Oppys]http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/p/476/1P170450180EFF55LWP2134L2M1.HTML]Oppy's wheel looks like it is covered with fine white powder

I can hardly make out the tread.

Palomar · 2005-06-02 04:17:02

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0 … ml]Spirits sees our 1st Martian "shooting star"

*Occurred on March 7. There was initial speculation the meteor seen could have been Viking Orbiter 2 instead. They've studied the path of the object and seem fairly certain the meteor was likely a chunk of the comet Wiseman-Skiff.

The meteor streaked 125 to 185 miles from Spirit. It was low in the sky and streaked near to the horizon. They refer to it as a "long spectacle."

Mars is due for a major meteor shower (Cepheids) on December 20, 2007. The article's author suggests a manned mission soon, to witness the event ourselves. :;):

--Cindy

::EDIT:: Won't create a different thread just for this one item. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951003.html]From Astropix:

The existence of two Martian moons was predicted around 1610 by Johannes Kepler, the astronomer who derived the laws of planetary motion. In this case, Kepler's prediction was not based on scientific principles, his writings and ideas were so influential that the two Martian moons are discussed in works of fiction such as Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels", written in 1726, over 150 years before their actual discovery.

I'm not sure I knew that. Perhaps forgot.

Palomar · 2005-06-02 15:02:12

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=16831]New dust devil movie

*Spirit. Just before noon on May 15. A 21-frame animation. :band:

Duration was 9 minutes, 35 seconds. The devil was moving at a rate of 16 feet per second. 112 feet in diameter. Traveled aprox 1 mile.

Hopefully I can get the movie to play. So far, zilch.

(If the image in the article doesn't play for you either, http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … a.html]use THIS link. Is from MER homepage. Worked for me. Yay! Dust devil!)

-*-

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=17001]Oppy captures photo of Earth

April 29. Says Earth appears slightly elongated because of motion during exposures.

--Cindy

::EDIT::

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/spotligh … tml]Spirit: Swarms of dust devils (March) Also encountered largest DD yet (3rd photo).

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/spotligh … .html]Oppy and tiny craters

Rxke · 2005-06-02 16:16:07

Wowee....

Wondering if Spirit will capture a global storm soon?

possible artefacts from the optimisation, but it always looks like they travel in pairs, one in the foreground, a smaller one bit further away...

I know what i'll be dreaming about tonight!

alan · 2005-06-04 10:02:26

Free at last
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opport … ...0M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opport … ...0M1.JPG

Rxke · 2005-06-04 10:35:50

Impressive!

You know, this picture should be distributed in the media, now the overall comments are rover stuck in measly dune, hawhawhaw, but this pic puts it into perspective.
Earth-cars could get easily stuck that deep too, I'd think. (relatively speaking: depth of trench vs radius of wheels. )

Palomar · 2005-06-04 12:04:28

*Happy 500th Sol to Spirit!

SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Hits the 500-Sol Mark! - sol 497-503, June 03, 2005
Spirit has been working on Mars for more than 500 sols! This week the rover completed its close-up observations of "Larry's Outcrop" and drove back toward "Methuselah," looking for a passable way up to the summit. The rover will continue to drive around the perimeter of "Husband Hill" until it finds a good pathway.
Sol-by-sol summaries:
Sols 497 and 498 (May 27 and 28, 2005):
Spirit used tools on its robotic arm at west Larry's Outcrop and made remote-sensing observations.
Sols 499 to 501:
Spirit continued using the tools on the arm to examine the outcrop and soils. It also made more observations with tools on the camera mast.
Sol 502:
Soil observation; remote sensing.
Sol 503 (June 2, 2005):
Finished soil work, took microscopic images of outcrop, drove toward Methuselah.

Remember shortly after Spirit began its mission, it nearly died prematurely? We were biting our nails, sitting on pins and needles? And here we are, 505 Sols later. :band: I've always been a bit more affectionate for Spirit because of that.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-06-05 12:40:51

Free at last
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opport … ...0M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opport … ...0M1.JPG

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-05zzk.html]An article pertaining to the escape

*Hard to believe it's been 5 weeks. Time went by surprisingly quickly regarding this problem.

A bit of Squyres' comments:

So what comes next? The first thing we're going to do is simply take a very hard look at the stuff we were stuck in. Much of the worst terrain was under the belly of the rover through all of this, down where we couldn't see it.
From our new position, everything that was under us for all those weeks is now visible. So we're going to take a little while just to look at where we were. We may also turn to take a look at our tracks (or trenches, or whatever you want to call them) with some of the instruments on the arm. But we'll see about that one... we'll only do it if we're convinced it's safe.

Heading south:

South is where we think the best science is, and we're not going to turn tail and run because of one unfortunate episode. Now if we find after continued driving that the southward road is simply impossible, then it'll be time to start thinking about something else. But for now, south is where we plan to go.

Is that still en route to Victoria Crater? Or has that previous plan been nixed? I don't see a reference.

And we knew from all our earth-based testing that when a stuck rover breaks free, it tends to do it very abruptly. So all the signs were suggesting that the big breakout was almost upon us. Still, it's hard to describe how good it felt to check out the downlink this morning and see all six wheels back on solid ground again.

I'll bet.

You develop pretty strong feelings for these vehicles once you've spent enough time with them, and when one of them gets into trouble you really sweat it until the trouble is over.

--Cindy

Rxke · 2005-06-06 09:14:34

You develop pretty strong feelings for these vehicles once you've spent enough time with them, ....

Not hard to imagine at all!

Still can't stop wondering about the technology marvel these rovers turned out to be... 500 days of data from 2 sources... This is nothing less than a technology dream for misionplanners.
Now they have a dang good picture about what works (almost everything) and what not (some wrinkles, thus far...)

BTW: all the Martian-micro-dust-nightmare-scenarios... looks like they will be pretty managable, no? I`m looking forward to reports about how well Oppy`s wheels are doing, after being literally buried in that nightmare stuff...
and the robotic arm, the optics... Spirit got into dustdevil territory, it didn't fry, no, it even got better!

Thi is all sooo good news, and it keeps getting better and better.

Another obzurvaahtion of yours truly:
I hope they turned the cameras/spectrometers/whathaveyou towards the place Oppy was stranded nearly instantaneously, and took some extensive readings... Might be interesting to see how the spot where Oppy so kindly offered shadow/shelter from the sun... (esp. UV) looks like.
Some theories about those `superoxides` (cfr. the Viking experiments explanation) on the surface, being in that, in essence unstable state, because of constant high-energy-bombardment (UV) maybe after five days of shadow, those super oxides broke down again to their 'more-stable-state,' (releasing oxy) The Mossbauer should be able to spot that, if it happened...

(Rambleramble)

Palomar · 2005-06-08 04:13:07

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-05zzm.html]JPL movies show Oppy's great escape

*Title is explanatory.

--Cindy

Rxke · 2005-06-08 15:37:42

wohoo, six-wheel drive rednecks on Mars!

weird how the movement seems to be in the opposite direction regarding the spinning of the wheels in the first part op the movie...

I makes sense in a way, if the hind wheels have more raction, but how did they decide this way of getting out? was it to make sure the wheels wouldn't dig in deeper?

aldo12xu · 2005-06-12 10:27:37

If anyone is interested, I made an attempt at unravelling the stratigraphy at Columbia Hills from recently enhanced orbiter photos. There's a lot of missing detail, but it seems there are some 4-6 well defined layers orientated notheasterly and dipping at a low angle to the northwest.

The link is on my homepage.

Palomar · 2005-06-13 07:26:35

http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/imag … tml]Sunset at Gusev Crater

*Not sure if this is extremely recent or perhaps a bit dated and now being hosted as Image of the Day at space.com. Regardless...what a photo.

--Cindy

::EDIT:: Just now saw the same photo at a different web site: Photo is dated May 19.

Rxke · 2005-06-13 09:34:59

aldo, about the Ultreya pics...

Have there been pic or tiffs available somewhere? Somehow, using .jpg feels a bit error-prone...
No crtique, but i couldn't help notice greyish blocks in the 'hole,' that disappear under enhancement..

I think approaching this (as an excercise) from the viewpoint 'this is not a hole,' could be interesting: expand instead of shorten, ( less contrast,) grayscale, discarding the lighter stuff (not-hole parts, so kind of over-exposure) )then use false colors to visualise different 'blacks' ... I guess the black spot could be not so smoothly black after all, but that's judging from artifact-prone .jpgs...

Mind you, I'd love it to be a sinkhole or something like that...

Palomar · 2005-06-14 04:46:58

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mer … tml]Spirit at Backstay

*Arrived at a rock called Backstay on June 7. Has been examining it. Rundown of Sols 504 - 510.

Spirit's total odometry is 2.73 miles.

Absolutely no mention of any difficulties, etc.; seems to be in continued excellent health. :up:

--Cindy

aldo12xu · 2005-06-14 09:28:46

Rxke, it was actually Phil Stooke who enhanced the images I used, so I have no idea what process he used. I remember seeing other attempts to show details "inside" Ultreya but Phil's is the most effective.

The unprocessed TIFF is available at:

http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsit … ...2-00357

Rxke · 2005-06-14 15:03:52

Thanks. Did a bit of juggling myself, and indeed it looks more lke a cliff than a hole...

C M Edwards · 2005-06-18 13:26:00

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … 2M1.HTML]I found all the missing dirt

This is a panaramic camera view of the dune Opportunity dug itself out of, taken on sol 496. It uses a filter to show looser soil. I had thought the original displacement of soil was rather small, but apparently running all six wheels through the trench dug out a large enough volume of dirt to account for it all.

It's got some very unusual properties, but it's not freeze dried marsian quicksand. I'm almost disappointed. :;):

Opportunity is (finally!) turning around to get a better look at the formation, though. It has also been given an appropriate name: "Purgatory".

Palomar · 2005-06-23 08:34:23

*Update on Oppy. But first, Spirit is finished with Methuselah and is now trekking for the top of the next ridge.

Back to Oppy:

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Examining 'Purgatory' - sol 490-496, June 17, 2005:
Opportunity is happy to be moving again and it's heading back to "Purgatory Dune." The rover's wheels dug wonderful trenches during its egress, and the science team is eager to get the robotic arm out and have a look at the soil inside and outside of the tracks. As you can imagine, Opportunity has been driving very carefully, backing away from the dune, turning around and then re-approaching it.
Sol Details:
490: (June 9, 2005) Drive away from Purgatory Dune.
491-493: Over the weekend the rover team had a problem with the uplink. On sol 491 they were loading all files for sols 491, 492 and 493. Due to an error at the Deep Space Network antenna, the sol 492 master file was not loaded. A drive scheduled for 492 did not occur. The 491 master file performed the run out science submaster and then self-recovered on sol 493. The vehicle was never in any danger and autonomously continued its science objectives.
494: First half of turning around. The team must turn the rover around, using a "k-turn" maneuver (a three-point turn that mimics the sideways "v" formation of the letter "k") to approach the Purgatory Dune with the robotic arm.
496: Second half of the "k-turn."

Oooooo...relating human emotions to a machine. Gasp! :;): Yeah, I'll bet ol' Oppy reapproached it -carefully-.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … ml]Looking back at Purgatory Dune

Apt name. Seems our senior citizen MERs are still swinging like teenagers.

--Cindy

REB · 2005-06-24 07:21:22

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … .HTML]Nice Dune next to Oppy

Looks like the back of some sea creature sliding into the ocean.

I had first thought that Opportunity would have and easier time traveling than Sprit. And for a while it did. But now…navigating around these dunes will be interesting.

C M Edwards · 2005-06-27 14:50:57

Well, finally!

Opportunity is finally using its microscopic imager to look at the soil it was trapped in earlier. It's still at a safe remove from Purgatory, but is returning fascinating data nonetheless.

And I can now submit another Wild *ss Guess about conditions on Mars!

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … .HTML]This is a disturbed section. It has been dug out by the wheels. Note the small clumps that clung together as they were slung around. They appear to be soil grains cemented together. There's also an apparent absence of pebbles in the dug up soil.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … .HTML]This is an undisturbed patch between the wheels. This is the really odd one. Notice how the large pebbles in and around that high albedo section in the middle are depressed into the surrounding soil. The same is visible in most of the other micrographs made in the same area, but they were not pushed in by contact with the imager or other instruments. The edges of the depressions are surprisingly sharp. The occurence of a high albedo area around the depressed pebbles seems to recur from photo to photo, too. And last but not least, if you click on the image and get the enlarged view, you'll also notice the entire image is webbed with what appear to be drying cracks in the soil.

As I said, this is a section still several feet from Purgatory - the rover did not dig itself in here. The underlying soil is still solid enough that it's unlikely disturbance by the rover is responsible for the observed depression and cracking.

So, I want to withdraw an earlier statement and say:

I think this patch was once wet, and later freeze dried into a crumbly - but cohesive - mass of dried dust. Those pebbles in that second photo sank into it under their own weight, just like Opportunity did at the Purgatory site.

Its's just another guess based on the fact that Purgatory is clearly a piled up dune, not a puddle, but I suspect it probably was never wet enough to be regarded as mud. Prolonged exposure to outgassed water vapor might have been enough. That could, in fact, explain the suspicious distribution of albedo across the images. The surface is brighter where the water vapor was.

C M Edwards · 2005-06-27 15:07:24

The cracking I mentioned is even more visible in this microimager photo taken nearby.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … icroImager Photo from Sol 505

Oddly, it seems restricted to the bright area around the sunken pebbles.

Those bright areas are not water ice, though. If they were, they would probably glisten.

Rxke · 2005-06-27 17:14:17

Those are not pebbles, IMO, they closely resemble the blueberries, look at that typical pit in one of them.
Looks like they're everywhere....

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