After seeing how much effort (driving meters) needs to be put to get out of here (but she'll get out, which is great !!!), I really would like to know what's the best to do from now on. Appearance of the surface doesn't tell us much about the carrying capacity of the soil, so the only thing left would be commanding drives of inches at the time and check the status visualy. Now THAT's going to dissappoint all of us that wanted to go to Victoria !! I'm not sure, but seems to me Victoria is at least a mile away ! That would mean it is out of reach

Is there another way to prevent oppy from ploughing on in a commanded drive for 2 meters in the deep ? Can she be programmed in such a way that slippage means STOP ?

It can detect slip when using Autonav.

So we will probably see more of that in the future, and not much blind driving.

I just logged after yesterday's problems, and by seeing the "Now What ?, What/where to go ?" thread, I seriously thought Oppy had already got away from the sand trap !
Back to reality ....

When Oppy began its treck, I had thought that it better head west to meet the etched terrain as soon as possible. Now, various people here have suggested that the etched terrain might not have so much outcrop to provide easier roving terrain.
I don't know, maybe we should consider a westernly route now ? Or is it too late ?

Um, i'm sorry about thinking about the next step so early, but since Oppy's slowly crawling out of the dirt, I am confident she'll get out of it.

Looking at Opportunity's current position on the MSSS photo of the area, she's only 200m due north of an etched outcrop which lies to the north-northeast of Erebus.

Looking to the land to the south and west of the rover, the ground increasingly /visually/ recalls the colour and texture last seen north of Viking crater. (The MSSS pixel resolution of 1.77m per pixel isn't quite enough to show the dunes she's currently in, but the pattern of this current area is virtually all behind her.)

So, either way, after a couple of hundred metres I sense that the going will get easier. Once out of this dune, it might only be a week or so of short drives (compared to the long sprints we've previously seen) before it's back to "business as usual". And - even allowing for a stopover on obvious etched terrain - "the rim of Erebus in under three weeks" is therefore my guess.

Andy G

Surely mini-TES can tell the difference between the light fluffy material that Oppy is in now as compared against the harder and denser areas. It would be painfully slow to use mini-TES to evaluate the conditions ahead before making each drive but it still better than getting stuck again.
1) How far out can mini-tes see when sitting at a high point on a dune?
2) What's the status of mini-tes now, wasn't it acting a little flaky about a month ago?

Gary

I think the MTes is fully functional at this point... the self-healing properties of both rovers are simply astonishing. Let's hope the rototilling gets that stuck steering actuator loose as well, since that seems to be the only thing wrong with Oppy at this point... (other than being stuck of course)

There were initially fears that particularly low temperatures would damage some of the components of the Mini-TES instruments, but these seem to have receded lately. Still, we're *probably* on borrowed time, inasmuch as there was a clear physical parameter 'no-go' for Mini-TES which has been long passed (unlike the notional warranty on the MER vehicles overall, which always struck me as a guesstimate at best!). I hope they get as much data as possible while they can!

Hehe..."rototilling"...

LMAO!! You know, that just might fix the actuator. I know I could fix it if I could go out there and give it a sharp whack with the side of a wrench.

Those rovers are a pair of fine machines. They never cease to amaze me.

I remember some talk that they weren't sure if it was a hardware or software issue? Anything more on that aspect of it?




Hopefully; really be bad if it seriously botches up a bearing or something.