Tesheiner,

first line az 270 means azimuth 270.

Direction is West.

jvandriel

Good hint
Trying to interpret the sequence of commands which were sent today (sol 624) .

* navcam_5x1_az_270_3_bpp --> Take 5 pictures at azimuth 270, 3? bpp?
* front_haz_penultimate_0.5_bpp_pri18 --> Take penultimate pictures front haz ? 0.5? bpp? pri18?
* front_haz_ultimate_2_bpp --> Take penultimate pictures from front haz? 2? bpp?

Rodolfo

Any chance tha the 0.5 bpp, 2bpp and 3bpp refer to compression\downsampling settings? bpp being "bits per pixel".

Jvandriel, Rodolfo and Helvick,

Remind that all those guesses (and I usually do the same) are based on the seq. names not on their actual content. But except for typo errors (they happened before) the names are a reliable hint about the sequence content.

Yes, 3_bpp, 1_bpp, etc. seems to be related to the downsampling settings.

Navcam_5x1_az_270_3_bpp is a panorama centered at 270º (due west) convering 180º. But I wouldn't say for sure that the rover would drive west based on that data. That navcam panorama (and the pancam too) are those taken after the driving is finished; it means planning for the movements after the current one (sol 624).
If you want to guess the driving direction for sol 624 movements look to the mean pancam pointing on pano taken after the previous (sol 521) drive.
Edited: The pancam pano taken on sol 521 was centered at -70º (0º is North) with an effective FoV of 56.8º. The planned pancam pano for sol 524 is centered at -90º (due west) and FoV is about 70º.

Final note: all we can do is guess about the movements based on camera data. There is no data available (to us) related to the wheels and the real stuff which commands the drive.

I don't remember a so quick availability of raw images at the MER webpage.
Now is Sol 624 17:36 at Meridiani, and the following image was taken at 12:57.


http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...MWP1212L0M1.JPG

PS. Nothing is perfect. This is the *only* image available from sol 624 until now.

That picture shows that Oppy is veering to West by crossing a ripple. Let us see the next downsample pictures from soles 625-626.

Rodolfo

Odd-- the JLP/MER site only has images through Sol 621, I can't get to the Sol 624 directory.

Anyway, this is an interesting image from Sol 621. Looking back at the Four Lane, it is a 3x exaggeration which shows the route between ripples. But look at the tracks just before the turn-around. The power of the wind!

--Bill

A hint about the Exploratorium status posted on the other forum:

http://www.markcarey.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-vie...start=5&show=20

This does raise some questions about the present rate of erosion\deposition on the dunes which I've been assuming is very slow. Even though this is dust from the tracks which are an unnatural intrusion into the environment and there is an elevated level of atmospheric dust in the general area ( see Marswatch Dust Reports this image makes me think there is a fair amount of material being transported around. If that is the case then the other features (the Tiny Craters and dark patches) must be caused by very frequent events.

That is interesting... I wonder if those parts of the tracks which show the light downwind plumes are through Puragtory-like material? It seems like the tracks themselves are lighter also.

Yes, even though the rover tracks are an unnatural disturbance to the presumed pavement of the soil, on several occasions here we have observed wind moverment of the weathered evaporite within a short time after the disturbance. This suggests to me that wind erosion is a major factor in shaping the surface and the speed with which we seen it work is not slow.

We need to hit the 'Net and see what material is available on aeolian processes. At this point, my knowledge is limited and at the "101" level.

--Bill

Here is an example of the timeframe that the wind can operate at thi sspot on the Meridiani plains. These images are right Forward Hazcams taken on Sol 621. The first image was taken during a path shift between ripples, the second is looking back at the spot of that maneuver.

The time difference is 710 seconds or about 12 minutes, and the light evaporite dust has already started drifting with the wind.

--Bill

Sol 621, that's about the same time as more crud appeared on the front hazcams isn't it? Must have been a windy day, I wonder if there was a cleaning event?

Here is a 360 degree Pancam panoramic view around Erebus.

Taken with the L1 pancam on Sol 622.

The view consist of 27 images.

jvandriel

L1 is usually used for an albedo type observation in conjunction with an orbiter...i.e. it looks this bright HERE, and that bright from up THERE, so we can interpolate actual surface brightness across more of the planet.

But damn - it looks like it's out of focus doesnt it? I hate L1

Doug

Yep.

---
622 p2277.03 135 0 135 0 2 272 pancam_albedo_pan_360_L1R1267
---

Yes, and I'd suspect that the two events may be related. Hopefully this will help to clean the solar panels and the hazcam lenses.

Since this appears to be a prevailing wind from the NW, I hope that this does not pull the regional dust storm in from Chryse. I'm not sure of the details of the atmospheric circulation on Mars.

--Bill

A couple of Erebus goodies, both modified from jvandriel's new pancam mosaic of the horizon on sol 622.

First, an extreme (zillion-fold) stretch of the horizon:

Click to view attachment

It shows that Erebus really is elevated, and a lower area lies beyond it, looking like a valley in this view. The view from the far rim of Erebus should be nice.

Second, a polar view of the horizon pan:

Click to view attachment

It shows the tracks leading back to the "four lane highway". Looking northwards (top) you see two little bright spots - Viking and Voyager craters. Looking west (left), the un-named nearby crater. If my azimuths are correct we are just a bit northwards of it, if that helps with map plotting.

Phil

Great pano, and very useful for mapping as you said.

> If my azimuths are correct we are just a bit northwards of it

Sorry but I didn't get it.
Northwards of what, Phil?

BTW: I would rotate your polar projection about 7º clockwise to match the headings to V&V.

I knew 'northwards' was ambiguous as soon as I wrote it... what I mean is the rover is slightly north of an east-west line running through that little crater. But if you rotate it 7 degrees that may not be true... we would be exactly east of the crater. I have not compared the distant features with MOC images to get an exact orientation.

Phil

djellison,

here is that same 360 degree panoramic view around Erebus but now taken with the R2

pancam on Sol 622.

jvandriel

A Navcam panoramic view taken on Sol 624 with the L0 Navcam.

jvandriel

A navcam panoramic view taken on Sol 625 with the L0 navcam.

jvandriel

A pancam panoramic view taken on Sol 624 with the R2 Pancam.

jvandriel

A panoramic view taken with the R0 Navcam on Sol 626.

jvandriel

and a pancam view around Erebus taken on Sol 626 with the L2 pancam.

jvandriel

This is a feature ID image adapted from jvandriel's Sol 626 Navcam pan (3x exaggeration) and an MOC image of Erebus. Looking southward, it shows the Mogollon outcrop and the target bedrock highway.

--Bill

It looks like they found a safe route past those dunes! Should be easy driving to Payton now, right? Well, assuming that [golf word] dust storm doesn't hamper operations.

The last 2 images are down and here is the complete pancam panoramic view.

Taken on Sol 626 with the L2 cam.

jvandriel

Great driving ahead

Doug

Great driving indeed - this cross-eyed stereogram looks like we have a small descent (relatively) to get onto the rock at Erebus' rim, but otherwise a straight shot along the dunes rather than crossing any

Click to view attachment

I see that Oppy has advanced much on sol 627.

Not yet the pictures of sol 628 have already arrived.

2. What EDRs do we have on the ground from sol 628?

Actual number of EDRs by sequence number and image type:

Sol Seq.Ver ETH ESF EDN EFF ERP Tot Description
--- -------- --- --- --- --- --- ---- -----------
628 p0767.03 0 0 0 0 0 0 navcam_7x1_az_288_3_bpp
628 p1663.01 0 0 0 0 0 0 navcam_3x1_az_108_1_bpp
628 p2124.03 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_cal_targ_L456
628 p2410.06 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_drive_direction_5x1_L2R2
628 p2411.06 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_alternate_direction_5x1_L2R2
628 p2600.07 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_tau
628 p2600.07 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_tau
628 p2629.02 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_horizon_survey_L456
628 p2630.01 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_saw_skysurvey_L4578R2478
628 Total 0 0 0 0 0 0

It looks like that the sol 628 was a sol of some driving.

2. What EDRs do we have on the ground from sol 629?

Actual number of EDRs by sequence number and image type:

Sol Seq.Ver ETH ESF EDN EFF ERP Tot Description
--- -------- --- --- --- --- --- ---- -----------
629 p2102.13 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_isc_voc_cal_L267
629 p2104.10 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_mtes_cal_target_L267
629 p2113.13 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_magnet_array_L234567Rall
629 p2123.05 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_cal_w_sweep_L234567Rall
629 p2124.03 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_cal_targ_L456
629 p2600.07 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_tau
629 p2600.07 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_tau
629 p2629.02 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_horizon_survey_L456
629 p2630.01 0 0 0 0 0 0 pancam_saw_skysurvey_L4578R2478
629 Total 0 0 0 0 0 0

Today has sent the following commands: I guessed to some commands.

pancam_isc_voc_cal_L267 ---> Picture to somewhere (isic_voc) to calibrate with L267
pancam_mets_cal_target ---> Picture to somewhere (mets) to calibrate the target
pancam_magnet_array_L234567Rall --> Pictures with magnet colour with L234567 Rall?
pancam_cal_w_sweep_L234567Rall --> Pictures to calibrate with sweep and L4,5,6,7 Rall?
pancam_cal_targ_L456 ---> Calibrate the target with L4,5,6 ?
pancam_tau ---> picture to sun to measure the tau
pancam_tau ---> picture to sun to measure the tau
pancam_horizon_survey_L456 ---> Take a pictures of survey type with L4,5,6.
pancam_saw_skysurvey_L4578R2478 ---> Take pictures on the sky (dust storm)

It seems like that the Oppy will spend the sol 629 watching around and sky, calibrate the orientation and distance.

Rodolfo

Not exactly, Rodolfo.
On sol 628 Oppy is/was shooting the navcam/pancam pictures usually taken after a drive. Normally they to that just after finishing the manouver, but I saw that sometimes on the day after.

There wasnt actually any driving on 628 - the giveaway is no Ultimate, Penultimate and Stumble Hazcam imaging.

You can image in a planned drive direction without actually driving that way yet

Doug

What times do the rovers typically transmit data generated during the day? Looking at the pancam tracking site niether seem to be sending data later in the day like they used to. Also, Spirit had a computer reset on Sol 644.

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-05zzzzn.html

Not too far now:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...ZLP2409R2M1.JPG

Oppy seems to have found another interesting outcrop:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...LAP2398L2M1.JPG

Upper-right seems to show signs of cross-bedding? The long fissure/fault seems notable too. On the lower-left seems to be an enigmatic channel; dare I say, karst-ish? Hmmmm

According to the above picture, It seems that the Oppy driver will meet about the same terrain conditions as the previous when Oppy was close before heading northward. So let him face to sort in reaching to Mogollon rim by approaching and study any factible route to sort among dunes. I understand of the fear of another "Purgatory Dune". This case won't happen if the driver go after studying carefully the landform. No escape unless the science is of not interest.

Rodolfo

Yes. Not too far some days ago, on sol 626.

Let's wait until navcams from 628 are on the net.

Odyssey passes are usually about 4pm and 4am local time, somethines an extra one 90 or so minutes before or after that.

Doug

Is Oppy actually sitting on an outcrop (as at 30-Oct-05) or are the exploratorium images backdated?

Not yet.
Exploratorium was downloading a lot of old images after its last crash.

Let suppose that now it is sol 629 for Oppy.

Now sol 629 the JPL team has already sent commands directly by k-band to Oppy's High Gain Antena to be done on sol 630 and the results will come on the sol 631 after sending data to Orbiter Odyssey ( 97% of time and 85% of the row data) thru UHF if Oppy does not miss the Odyssey's almost polar orbit (93.1 degrees inclination) in less than every 2 hours.

However, there is a limitation logistics since Odyssey advances longitudinal ground tracks by approximadamente 29.5 degrees and the entire ground track nearly repeats every two sols or martian days.

The posted pictures are lagging between 2-4 soles. (if Odyssey is within 29.5 longitudinal degree of above of MER-B, the transmission will relay right now and if it is just on the opposite side, the relay will delay for 2 more sols.)

Rodolfo

RN - your info is a bit outdated.

A typical sol will start with the DFE X-Band uplink containing commands for that sol, (although with Spirit they're trying it via UHF). Then typically around 4pm, a UHF relay will occur and data from that sol will get sent down. More data gets sent down, sometimes, at 4am as well. Anything that doesnt get down that sol, will get sent in the next available opportunity based on priority.

Odyssey is in a 4pm orbit - it overflies any area roughly at 4pm, and that means that a rover can have 1, 2 or sometimes 3 consecutive orbits with visibility of Odyssey in a single sol, and potential for a similar number 12 hrs later. Typically, however, they just use the one PM UHF pass, and if they're not using deep sleep, 1 AM UHF pass.

In any case, it's only very very rarely that the rover can not see Odyssey at least twice in any given sol.

Doug

So far, all we have seen from sol 627 are the hazcams, and there are quite a few, showing a lot of back-and-forth movements of Opportunity. Does anyone know what she was trying to do? Take a look at these representative fore and aft images.

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0FP1235L0M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0PP1335L0M1.JPG

After looking through all of the hazcams I am not sure the air is noticeably dustier or not. The differing appearance of some of them could very well be caused by the contrast stretching and/or different exposure times.

I noticed some images that did seem to suggest it was windy enough to move dust around. The older track in this image seems to be less crisp than the newer ones that cross it.

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...ZXP1335L0M1.JPG

By the way, I was one who attempted to update from the Exploratorium site with MMB today. I had to kill that process. Later, I checked their site and found that their navcam directory for 10/31 had almost 13,000 images! Tomorrow I'll check the site before clicking that button in MMB.

I think that's what you get when you shuffle back and forth whilst steering with only 3 of the 4 steering wheels

Perhaps a slight turn in place to optimise UHF passes?

Doug

Some new pancam pictures from exploratorium

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...23P2412L2M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...23P2412L2M1.JPG

That's great!

One more driving day and Oppy is on top of solid rocks again.

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...rebus_nav_2.jpg

How old are those pictures? With all image websites updating differently or not at all recently, im totally lost now lol