Some L2/L7's came down and I've done a whole lot of channel-mixing to get something fairly nice.



http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_images/o533_71.jpg (600kb)

And because it highlights the features ahead so brilliantly - i've done the interesting section in 500% Phil-O-Vision

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...o533_71_pov.jpg (60kb)

Who wants to play 'match the feature' with that and MOC imagery

Doug

Doug,

You to yourself an injustice. Fantastic.

Chris

Lovelly picture Doug. After all this waiting, I hope Erebus turns out to be more impressive than Vostok lol. I've often wondered where Opportunty might be right now if it hadn't got stuck... although I suppose it could have got into trouble on a dune further down the line.

Looking at the Phil-O-Vision image I thikn Erebus could actually be a nice panorama - several feet of outcropping it looks like. A strange, new, and unusual vista I am sure

Doug

Yes! You can already see dunes and ?outcrops? of the dark "basal unit" within Erebus.



I think that getting stuck was inevitable. Oppy was travelling uncommanded at high speed and the conditions/terrain were clearly changing before she got stuck. The Purgatory incident was a wake-up call; it could have been worse.

--Bill

I'm curious - is everyone else seeing this (and many other Meridiani panoramas) as nearly black? I have to enhance the intensity in order to actually see what's going on. Is this an aesthetic choice, to match a perceived expectation of the actual lighting at Meridiani, simply a matter of preserving the intensity from the original images, or do I need to adjust my monitor?

Incidentally ... with the intensity enhanced, nicely done, and it's good to see Erebus.

It's far from black on all the systems I use...CRT's at work ( two different ones ) LCD on my laptop, and LCD for my home machine

Perhaps you need to fiddle with contrast/brightness?

Doug

Here:

Click to view attachment

I compare views of Erebus from sols 448 and 533. The first was my original posting, the second cribbed from Doug.

My impression is that on 448 we could see a bit more to the south, as if the rover was then up on a slight rise, and now the view is from a slightly lower area. This may explain why we have had so much difficulty seeing anything. I have always thought the etched terrain should be very interesting and scenically attractive, but it's one of those things you don't see until you are right on top of it.

As for matching this to MOC images... I'm not ready to do that yet. Got burned with Home Plate!

Phil

Monitor settings have always been a problem with digital viewing. Perhaps we ought to have a "monitor calibration" page onsite; here is the calibration page from my site:

http://www.mindspring.com/~woharris/cal.htm

Doug, PM me if you'd like to use any of these materials here.

--Bill

Thanks Bill, that did the trick. My contrast was off. Much better now

Phil, I think you're right! In fact, this explain also why I wasn't unable to make decent vertical projection from Sol 531 partial panorama... :Click to view attachment
looking to tracks divergence, I things that in that Sol Oppy was descending...

Here is an interpretation of Doug's o533_71_pov.jpg image. I used PaintShopPro to set the grey, white and black points of the image to remove the "mars dust" color bias from the image. In this way one can see compositional differences in the surface materials by "dusting".

--Bill

According to the latest flight director update Opportunity will only be 150 meters from Erebus crater after todays drive (SOL 536)!

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mer/flightdir.cfm

Heck with Erebus: Victoria ho? Is anybody else thinking that the little 5-6 pixel rise immediately to the right of Erebus looks a bit hazy, as if from distance, and is in exactly the right direction...?

If you look to traverse map, this is impossible:
Click to view attachment
From actual position (in red) Victoria should appear about 40deg east of Erebus, approxiametly between the two red marks in this stretched Doug's panorama:
Click to view attachment
Probably, Oppy is too far (and even in a depressed region) to see Victoria rim... the feature you highlight is the Erebus rim...

Doug asked if anybody wanted to try matching features between pancam and MOC as we approach Erebus. Well, never let it be said Phil was afraid to take a chance. I've been wrong before but here goes:

Click to view attachment

This is a comparison of the MOC image (south at top) and the vertically exaggerated pancam view from Sol 448 which I posted long ago. I have indicated some dark patched (D1, D2) and ridges (R1, R2). The ridges are probably just dunes. The one which is on the horizon on Sol 533 is the one on the right in this older picture, I think.

OK, rip me apart, ye lions!

Phil

I hate to make this type of post, but "I agree".

In my color-tweaked exaggerated Phil-O-Vision Stooke-gram in Post #12, we see, from right to left, R-1/R-2 dunes/ridges, and the D-1 and D-2 dark outcrops. The evaporite-paved Erebus Highway moseys from the bottom center to the left horizon. Note the dunes/talus on the far wall between the dark outcrops. I'm interested in examining the dark unit since this appears to be our first major change in lithology since we've been here.

Evaporites, basalt sand, blueberries and misc ejecta/aerolites are interesting, but after a year, we need a change...

--Bill

I'm with Skybum. I predict that Erebus will be like Vostok. Only, not so exciting

I'm secretly hoping (not so secret any more) that there is nothing of interest at Erebus and Oppy continues full steam to Victoria.

I ride the fence on this. If it looks like Vostok, I hope that the rocks aren't too interesting so we can get moving. If it turns out to look like nothing we have seen before, I hope we take our time and explore the place.

I think that Erebus crater and Etched terrain is the same bedrock as Oppy seen before, therefore the next big (long) stop would be Victoria and I hope the slope isn`t too steep so Oppy can drive into Victoria and find deeper layers of bedrock to examine.

If Opportunity reached Victoria and sent back a nice panorama of it i'd be very happy.

getting closer:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...KRP2443L2M1.JPG

Phil, now agree with you! At least identifications of the two rim features appear very reasonable. Here last stretched panorama (10:1) from new Sol536 PanCam:
Click to view attachment
I tried to make a vertical projection (assuming flat terrain); scale is uncertain, due to the fact that terrain is not flat in front of Oppy, but is possible to identify some details of the highway in the MOC image; this help to identify also rover position:
Click to view attachment

Don't underestimate the distance between Erebus and Victoria (about a mile) - and the 'etched terrain' between those two craters looks like an obstacle course full of sand traps and rocky ridges. It'll be a miracle if Opportunity ever reaches Victoria Crater.

This is exactly the kind of miracles that MER team usually made in the last 18 months

Now highway features identifications are more easy:
Click to view attachment
Here also the polar projection:
Click to view attachment

Let me corret myself: it looks like the "dunes/talus on the far wall between the dark outcrops" that I noted earlier are at the near crater rim.

I'm looking forward to seeing Erebus up close.

--Bill

Dilo -- thanks for the correction on my Victoria over-enthusiasm. I didn't have an overall MOC image showing both Erebus and Victoria readily available, so I searched and searched, and when I finally found one it was at a weird angle that led me to believe that Opportunity was located more west of Erebus than North. Alas.

Still, I cannot wait to see Victoria! Any chance that we might be able to see it from that rise on Erebus' rim?

Panoramic view to the South.
Erebus on the right side of the picture in the background.

Taken with the L2 Pancam on Sol 536.


jvandriel

Looks like the on-ramp to the Erebus highway!

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...LRP0703R0M1.JPG

Indeed! I've been noticing the chanes in terrain the past couple of "days of exploratorium postings".

This is a recent image, contrast enhanced and sharpened:

I see a couple of the flat evaporite paving plates that have apparently sunk, leaving a depressed area in the overlying soil. Not much in the big picture, but an interesting data point nonetheless. "Hmmm..."

--Bill

Finally we have a pseudocolor PanCam stitch (Sol539, L2+L7):
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...pe=post&id=1039

And corresponding Phil-O-Vision (x10 stretch, more realistic colors):
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...pe=post&id=1040

..and (almost) vertical projection:
Click to view attachment

And here is a Phil-O-Vision Horticolor image; much nicer colors that I was able to prestidigitate.

Note that the near-rim dunes are marching around to the right side. It looks like Oppy's aiming for the eastern rim of Erebus...

--Bill

I really must do something about this awful astigmatism...

Phil

I'm betting they stop and do a bit of scratch-and-sniff at the exposed patch a few meters ahead.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...RP0703L0M1.HTML

It looks as though, if you could sweep away the dunes (which look much lower and flatter here), that there would be a broad cobblestoned pavement all the way to the south. Is that possible?

Easy way to find out - send one of those street-cleaning trucks to Mars and let it have a go at it. Just think of all the science - analysis of the dust passing through the collection tank, a good look at clean stones, information on how fast the dunes move, and a clear path for Opportunity.

Actually David, that is almost certainly the case. From what we've seen in the occasional windows through the dunes/ripples, the bedrock surface has been mostly flat and cracked up from Eagle crater to Endurance, and all the way south to the current position. I am hoping that when Opportunity gets well into the etched terrain, it will become less flat, with some elevated outcrops to explore.

The question is, is it worth it to spend any time on outcroppings when a huge crater awaits a few meters to the south? I think it would be quite interesting to see just what that meteor uncovered however long ago, moreso than more finely layered bedrock nubs. If nothing else a panorama of a huge crater would be impressive to see.

I wouldn't mind seeing a fossilized whale skeleton sticking out of the Meridiani plains, though.

Victoria will be awesome no doubt, but there is a slight chance IMO the outcropping near Erebus will be easier to investigate. Looking at Victoria it looks like a though one to enter compared to Endurance and the ejecta blanket seems covered by dark sands.. Perhaps they will need to travel some time around it to determine a safe way to the rim. 'bout your skeleton, who wouldn't?

Nico

Sol540 PanCam stitches toward SE (up) and West (bottom); corresponding stretched version on the right (10:1 ratio) suggests a slope of only 0.22 degree toward erebus...
Click to view attachment

Lucky you didn't put any money on that bet lol

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...PYP1311R0M1.JPG

It could also likely be that the outcrops at Erebus are the same stuff as before - then we ride rather fast along I guess, because we can hope to find unusual ejected rocks from a deep Victoria layer.

Looking to sol 541 drive images and to this small pano made with the pancam pictures, I have the feeling that they will stop on the next collection of patches.

See http://nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportu...PYP0703L0M1.JPG
and
Click to view attachment

Tesheiner

PD: I'm just coming back from my month-long vacations and trying to figure what happened on mars during this time.

I hope so !
if we could maintain the current driving regime (carful, but steady, daily progress at an average of 30 meters a day, *without* extensive stops ), we would cover the remaining 1500 Meters from Erebus to Victoria within about 50 Sols
add to this: restricted sols and another month of unexpected delay/problems, we
could be there as early as November...

Sooo, consulting Helvick's Power Chart, that would leave us still another 50-100 Sols worth of explorating Victoria Crater until Solar power death ...

We need a new name for Phil-O-Vision

Vertical Exageration doest quite sound cool enough. Perhaps we could call them a Prolix, as Prolix is latin for long or stretched?

Doug

Bah! No stopping here!

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...PYP1311L0M1.JPG

Drove over the patch like a dog in the road. They're really in a rush!

Doug, you're not suggesting Prolixographs? Ugh.

Stookeygrams have a homey ring, no?



Yep, the patch looks like a roadkill. I'd like to see her stop and look at one of these bedrock windows, but I doubt that there is anything different here than what we'd see 200 meters down the road.

--Bill

Anaglyphs and Proliglyphs works for me

Doug

Here is the context for Oppy's Sol 541 pancams:



(My question is: Are we actually looking at Erebus crater on the horizon? Is the ridge we see on the horizon actually the *far* side of the crater? Is it just completely filled in?)