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djellison

Member

From: Leicester,UK

Registered: 2004-08-31

Posts: 113

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

That fossily thing was ratted straight thru and APXS's and Mossbauered - so if there were anything out of the ordinary in its make up - it would have been spotted

Shaun Barrett

Member

From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Registered: 2001-12-28

Posts: 2,843

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

Well, the chances are it wasn't a fossil anyhow.
    I still can't quite get it entirely out of my mind though.
                                                     ???

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The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner

djellison

Member

From: Leicester,UK

Registered: 2004-08-31

Posts: 113

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

SMASH!

(The names and distances are my own)

Doug

djellison

Member

From: Leicester,UK

Registered: 2004-08-31

Posts: 113

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

atomoid

Member

From: Santa Cruz, CA

Registered: 2004-02-13

Posts: 252

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

Thats truly an amazing picture Doug, I think we get the picture, I can tell im not the only one who's been patiently going insane waiting to finally get to that heatshield! :bars2:

In case anyone mised it, (i did):
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … .jpg]Frost on Opportunity (!) 257th SOL.
For some reason theres appreciably more water vapor in the air at Meridiani than at Gusev, wonder why that is...

Wet-looking http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … jpg]clouds and still http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … 1.jpg]more clouds

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"I think it would be a good idea". - [url=http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Mahatma_Gandhi/]Mahatma Gandhi[/url], when asked what he thought of Western civilization.

djellison

Member

From: Leicester,UK

Registered: 2004-08-31

Posts: 113

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

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

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

The only thing the MERs have spotted so far, which looked to me like it could actually be a fossil, was the infamous segmented 'crinoid', discovered by Opportunity on its 33rd Sol:

{{snip images -- are on previous page}}

    Strangely enough, the 'crinoid' was never discussed in 'respectable' circles. Given the potential enormity of its implications, that surprised me very much and it still sticks in my mind as something I can't comprehend and I can't quite forget.

    Putting aside the NASA Party-Line, isn't anyone else out there the least bit interested in that incredible looking rock formation?
                                                   ???

*Wow.  Am searching my memory...I don't seem to recall having seen that before!  :-\  Looks like a flora fossil.  It also looks like the bones of a skeletal hand (no, I'm not implying or even suggesting that's what it is -- nor even the flora fossil).

Too bad the "respectable circles" aren't willing to look a bit more closely.

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Stephen

Member

Registered: 2004-01-16

Posts: 68

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

That martian surface must be as hard as (well) rock! Judging from the pics so far, the heatshell seems to have made hardly a dent.

At the moment it looks like there will be not much more of a hole than Opportunity herself might have dug with one of her wheels. 

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Stephen

Stu

Member

From: Kendal, Cumbria, England

Registered: 2001-09-04

Posts: 318

Website

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

Happy Birthday Doug! 

Thanks from everyone here at newmars for all your amazing images, too.  :up:

Stu

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Stuart Atkinson

Skywatching Blog: [url]http://journals.aol.com/stuartatk/Cumbrian-Sky[/url]

Astronomical poetry, including mars rover poems: [url]http://journals.aol.com/stuartatk/TheVerse[/url]

C M Edwards

Member

From: Lake Charles LA USA

Registered: 2002-04-29

Posts: 1,012

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

That darker covering of particles appears to have been blasted out of the impact, er... crater.  I'll bet that reflects the composition of the lower soil layers rather than something knocked off of the heat shield. 

If an earlier idea of mine is correct, get ready to see the smaller, evenly graded version of "blueberries".

PS:  Dang!  I hadn't thought of that, but a subsurface layer of relatively dark and fine material would explain some of the odd coloring of Burns Cliff.

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"We go big, or we don't go."  - GCNRevenger

C M Edwards

Member

From: Lake Charles LA USA

Registered: 2002-04-29

Posts: 1,012

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

Here's some of the prior discussion.  (Ignore my ravings and proceed to Cassioli's pictures.)

http://www.newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1539]An Old Blueberry Thread

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"We go big, or we don't go."  - GCNRevenger

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

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

*Another wheel mishap with Spirit.  :-\ 

SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Eats a Potato-Sized Rock - sol 333-345, December 23, 2004

Spirit finished work at a rock called "Wishstone," then continued to make slow progress up "Husband Hill." Wishstone is different than any rock Spirit previously studied either on the plains or in the hills. Scientists and engineers used the miniature thermal emission spectrometer to find similar rocks for further study.

A potato-sized rock got caught in Spirits's right rear wheel on sol 339, causing the wheel to stall and ending the drive for that sol. Small moves of the wheel on subsequent sols dislodged the rock, but the rock remains close to the wheel, so the team is planning small, careful steps to move the wheel away from the rock so it will not become jammed again. Spirit remains in excellent health.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/ … ml]...from NASA/JPL web site (includes Sol-by-Sol summaries)

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Arccos

Member

From: Czechia

Registered: 2004-01-07

Posts: 46

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

Any doubts about cleaning Opportunity's solar panels?

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My knowledge of the English language is poor - but still I'm here .

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

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

Any doubts about cleaning Opportunity's solar panels?

*Yes, and plenty!  :angry:

Since I'm a female heterosexual, I'm sure it's http://www.astronode.de/archiv/12/pitt- … t.jpg]Brad Pitt, http://www.tomcruisefan.com/randompic/r … 26.jpg]Tom Cruise and 
http://www.cineclub.de/images/2001/blow.h1.jpg]Johnny Depp making secret trips to Mars, to clean Oppy's solar panels!  And I want a photo (hyperlinked please) of them tending to that very task, now!   

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ro … .html]Bits & Pieces

*Well, Oppy's busy inspecting the heat shield.  Includes images.  They're interested in "mechanical properties" (seems an odd phrase) of the Marsian soil due to impact, and are hoping a crater was formed due to the impact.  Seems the bounce location/impact is to the far right of the heat shield.  Of course they're also curious as to how well the shield survived entry.

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 28,843

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

Well I do not know about who or what is clean those solar panels but the heat shield photos are slowly rolling in.

Mars rover Opportunity visits heat shield impact site

The image was taken during the rover's 325th martian day (December 22) and released by NASA on Tuesday.

This orbital view shows the course the rover drove from its landing to its 324th martian day, or sol (Dec. 21, 2004), including the historic path of Opportunity's six months of exploration inside Endurance Crater.

Then you get the not so nice way of saying we are exploring the heat shield. Mars rover seeks treasure in trash Engineers scavenge for ideas in charred debris of heat shield

This research thou is very valuable for if we can make the shield out of lighter wieght materials that would mean we would be able to deliver a much larger payload to the surface someday.

The heat shield was built at Jeffco's Lockheed Martin Space Systems and consists of:

• A surface coated with a protective layer, six-tenths of an inch thick.

• The protective coating is made from the outer bark of cork oaks, ground to a powder and mixed in a vat with tiny glass spheres.

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

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

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s … s&e=3]NOVA welcomes viewers to Mars on PBS

*Starring Spirit and Opportunity!   :;):  Yeah, who else?  Sorry...couldn't resist.

The program airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST on PBS (check local listings).

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Stephen

Member

Registered: 2004-01-16

Posts: 68

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

Shades of the Year 2000 bug!

Here we are at Spirit's anniversary & I see that the Time on Mars pics for Spirit & Opportunity on JPLs]http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html]JPL's Mars Rover Page have both reset themselves back to "Sol 0" and "Sol 20", while the cartoon animation is informing us (amongst other things) that "Spirit has survived -90 sols past its '90-sol warranty'"!

I guess those who wrote the scripts for those did not think the rovers (and their webpages) would still be around. 

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Stephen

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

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

Shades of the Year 2000 bug!

Here we are at Spirit's anniversary & I see that the Time on Mars pics for Spirit & Opportunity

*The "Time on Mars" feature of the homepage seems a bit messed up otherwise.  As I'm looking at it right now, Spirit's time is 01:17 and the background is a night scene (stars, two tiny crescent moons).  Of course that's as it should be.

However, Opportunity's time (opposite side of Mars from Spirit) is 10:43 -- which of course is daytime -- and yet the background is the same nightly scene as Spirit's.   

The daytime background feature -does- "track the Sun," i.e. simulation of Sun's progression through the sky.  I've seen as early as 07:15 for one or other of the rovers, and of course the Sun is shown as having risen. 

So yeah, something's a bit messed up somewhere in the simulation.

--Cindy

::EDIT::  Whoa!    Holy shades of Koo-Koo Clocks, Batman!  I checked the Time on Mars again, after finishing what I wrote above:  Spirit's time is now 1:21 (logical)...yet Oppy's time is 10:38!  ???  Why would Spirit's Time on Mars panel be counting upward (logically) yet Oppy's Time on Mars panel is counting *backwards*?  Yep -- now it's 1:23 for Spirit and 10:37 for Oppy.  Is there something about Marsian time I missed somehow?  I don't theeeeeenk so.  Or am I up too early without caffeine?  :laugh:  Maybe we're in the Twilight Zone -- one clock counts up while the other one counts down. 

Yep...once again:  Spirit's time is now 01:24 and Oppy's is down to 10:36.  Maybe I need a break from being online.  :hm:

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

djellison

Member

From: Leicester,UK

Registered: 2004-08-31

Posts: 113

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

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

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

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=15801]A rock like none before, brushed

*By Spirit.  Rock called "Wishstone."

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

GraemeSkinner

Member

From: Eden Hall, Cumbria

Registered: 2004-02-20

Posts: 563

Website

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

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/sol … 5.html]One year on report

I hope NASA's publicity department milk the fact that S&O have lasted so long to the best of their ability. It's quite an achievement.

Graeme

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There was a young lady named Bright.
Whose speed was far faster than light;
She set out one day
in a relative way
And returned on the previous night.
--Arthur Buller--

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

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

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … g]Proposed Lookout Point

*Includes trail of Spirit's journey up to Sol 354.  Guess she's going to stop at "Larry's Lookout" and I am so anticipating our first glimpse into Tennessee Valley.    Really wish both MERs could go on and on...I'm definitely one of those "beyond the next hill" types (but hey, I'm a direct descendant of Daniel Boone's -- I guess it's in the genes, LOL!)

The path of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit through the rover's 354th martian day, or sol (Dec. 31, 2004), plus some future travel options, are indicated on this map of the "Husband Hill" region of the "Columbia Hills" within Mars' Gusev Crater. The rover team plans to send Spirit to a vantage point dubbed "Larry's Lookout" for views to help in deciding whether to dip into "Tennessee Valley."

The base image for the map was taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor.

Will Spirit, won't Spirit (take a dip into Tennessee Valley)?    Staying tuned...

--Cindy

P.S.:  I wonder how long it'll take Spirit to get from her current point to "Larry's Lookout."  ?

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Stephen

Member

Registered: 2004-01-16

Posts: 68

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

Just surfed over the http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … pportunity raw images site at marsrover.jpl.nasa.gov and I noticed that JPL have posted a monster update: 24023 out of 30360 have been added or updated in some fashion, going right back to Sol 1. Even the EDL trio have been marked as "updated".

Anybody know what's going on? There can't still be images from Sol 1 left on Opportunity to be downloaded can there?

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Stephen

atomoid

Member

From: Santa Cruz, CA

Registered: 2004-02-13

Posts: 252

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

Anybody know what's going on? There can't still be images from Sol 1 left on Opportunity to be downloaded can there?

Not a chance, just looking at the EDL images, they are still the same three version '1' images, i know that NASA likes to officially release things about a year later after 'full calibration has been done', but i'd assume if these 3 EDL photos were rereleased as 'final' versions they should sport a version change on their filenames.

So i'm thinking that this is just some sort of automated server barf-up maneuver. unless they are indeed 'new' images, from NASA's hold-'em-back-until-we-remove-the-martian-ruins-from-these-pictures holding bin of course!

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"I think it would be a good idea". - [url=http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Mahatma_Gandhi/]Mahatma Gandhi[/url], when asked what he thought of Western civilization.

Shaun Barrett

Member

From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Registered: 2001-12-28

Posts: 2,843

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

Atomoid:-

... unless they are indeed 'new' images, from NASA's hold-'em-back-until-we-remove-the-martian-ruins-from-these-pictures holding bin of course!

    Now you're talking!!   
    That's what's been missing from this thread lately .. Atomoid and his own special brand of bulls*** .. Oops! .. HUMOUR!.
    I meant HUMOUR!!    

    But seriously, it's nice to see you back at New Mars.  :up:

    [P.S. In the same general spirit you exemplified in your comments about NASA's "hold-'em-back-file", I've posted a picture of a small Martian arthropod over at 'Life on Mars', 'More fossil-like images from Spirit'. Don't know if you've seen it yet. Waddya think?
     Definitely a live Martian beastie, right?!  :;):  ]

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The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner