OK -- can we call the meter-high drifts that seem to block the path along the rim "The Knights Who Say Ni"?

Maybe not -- I mean, where the heck are we going to find a shrubbery around here???



-the other Doug

Images from sol 598 drive are available at Exploratorium.

It seems Oppy drove due N and is now looking W for the next move.

Oppy should avoid "The Knights Who Say Ni" by taking a "Silly walk". If Oppy is lucky, it will find "The Meaning of Life" in Erebus. If not, there will always be enough "Spam" and "Dead Parrots". And before using the RAT again, it will have to find a rock that has not learned the first lesson of not being seen.

Ecky-ecky-ecky-ecky f'tang-zoop-boing! Goodem-zoo-owli-zhiv ? Maybe Python can be saved for Victoria...

The Bright Angel Trail works for me.

We ought to avoid any mention of the Burgess Shale! We don't need to Bugs and Bunnies contingent to do a web search and read up on the Burgess fauna. They'd be finding Wiwaxia and Opabina behind every rock. Heck, every rock would become Anomalocaris...

--Bill

Labelled Erebus

Sol 592: Oppy arrived the South Shetland Outcrop

http://xs48.xs.to/pics/05395/Sol_592_Oppor...90_Labelled.jpg (478 KB)

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...47P1311L0M1.JPG

After a little piroutte and bump north, Oppy looks to now be set to drive backwards to the NW around the perimeter of the large dune field.

Bill:

I have a theory about the Burgess Shale, which is my own. I call it My Theory. Ahem!

Bob Shaw

If you don't shut up, I am sorry, but I am going to have to shoot you...

Ahem! Burg...

Rattle-Rattle-Rattle-BOOM-BOOM-Keeerpow-Blaaast!...




Ahem!

I blame R J Gumby for so much...

Erebus from the East ( left ) to the West ( right ).

A complete panoramic view of Erebus crater.

Taken with the L2 Pancam on Sol 593-Sol 594.

jvandriel

Trying to find a way around the West Side of Erebus.

A panoramic view taken on Sol 598 with the L2 pancam.

jvandriel

MY




BRAIN




HURTS!!!!!


-the other Doug

No free weekends for those brave machines (and the people behind them).

After "relaxing" on sol 600 taking some pictures, today (sol 601) is yet another driving day.

Due west?

Western part of Erebus in color from sol 593
Click to view attachment

Similar views from MMB:



West end:

The complete 360 degree panoramic view made to find the way around the West.

Taken an Sol 598-599 with the L0 Navcam.

Maybe somebody can make a Polar view of this pano to see the tracks.

jvandriel

Alan,

Very fine. This is the first image of Erebus in which I have actually been able to make out the crater.

Glenn

Your desires are commands to me!
vertical projection (10cm/pixel):Click to view attachment "pseudo" polar: Click to view attachment
North is (approximately) on the Top. I made some slight adjustments to original panorama in order to have more uniform contrast/luminosity. Unfortunately, autostitch small horizon imperfections are amplified by polar projection...
Hoping you enjoy!

Dilo,

thanks for making those Polar views.

Great cooperation between the members of this forum.

I agree with you that autostitch is not always perfect in stitching the horizon. Especially

with the Navcam images.

The horizons on the Pancam images are most of the time better.

jvandriel

Glenn,

look at post no. 60 for a complete view of Erebus crater.

jvandriel

The first 360 degree Panoramic view around Erebus.

Taken on Sol 601 with the L0 Navcam.

jvandriel

and here is the second one, taken later in Sol 601 with the L0 Navcam.

jvandriel

Here is a pancam view of that same area.

Taken on Sol 601 with the L2 Pancam.

jvandriel

As a point of reference, in jvandriel's first NavCam panorama in Message 71, the "landmark" ripple with the "crater" in the side is on the left of the pan. In the later NavCam panorama in Message #72, the other side of the "landmark" crater is on the right side of this pan. So we are past that landmark and headed west.

It's going to be a good journey...

--Bill

jvandriel,

Yes, I can now delineate it in your gray scale panoramas -- very nice. Remeniscent of Vostok, I think -- as awesome in their own way as the fresher craters . . .

Glenn

Today (sol 603) is driving day at Meridiani.

The planned scheme is similar to sol 601: driving, taking a full 360º navcam panorama at mid-drive, drive again, take two 180º navcam panos (looking forward and backwards) and then a 105º (7 frame) pancam panorama.

The reason behind the problems seen during the planned drive on sol 597 (which was finally executed on sol 598).
From MER Status update (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/sta...tml#opportunity):

The panoramic view around Erebus on Sol 603.

Taken with the L0 navcam.

jvandriel

A pancam L2 panoramic view of that same area.

Taken on Sol 603.

jvandriel

Later in Sol 603 another navcam panoramic view.

jvandriel

A panoramic view around Erebus.

Taken with the L0 Navcam on Sol 608.


jvandriel

A panoramic view around Erebus taken with the L2 pancam on Sol 608.

A great view on the high dunes on the left side of this panorama.

jvandriel

Sorry, that is a great view. But it is a view of the plains outside the crater - Not inside Erebus.

ed

Edward Schmitz

Opportunity is not close enough to the crater rim to have a good look inside the crater.

That will come later.

Now you see how he drives around the crater to find a safe way to get closer to the rim.

jvandriel

I think that Oppy's must stay closer to Erebus' rim in order to get better wind to clean their solar panels. Normally, the rim is where there is greater speed of wind since the fans of aeroplane modelling fly their planes close to the slope....

Rodolfo

Rodolfo, I think you are correct, but I am not certain this crater has enough relief to create dust devils or significant eddys in the wind. I hope I am wrong. There seems to be evidence in the orbiter images that wind has recently moved dust near Endurance and Victoria, but I do not see that near Erebus.

But then, didn't we see some dust movement obscuring Opportunity's earlier tracks, as it backed away from Purgatory? I think it might be a good idea to to put Opportunity in places where we might expect the wind to be greater.

In the latest Flight Director's report (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mer/flightdir.cfm), Byron Jones says Opportunity in heading for a new target called "Pason".
Does anyone of you know where that is located?

That would be "Payson" and it would be the largest promontory in the western rim of Erebus. There are feature identification maps in the "Route Map" thread.

--Bill

A panoramic view around Erebus.

Taken on Sol 615 with the L0 navcam.

jvandriel

A pancam view around Erebus.

Taken on Sol 615 with the L2 pancam.

jvandriel

Where there is more winds? I think that the Meridiani Planum in where Oppy is operating is a zone between two atmosphere pressure (high from the Southern Hemisphere and lower from Northern Hemisphere). Around that, the wind speed would be about the same except to some places that might have slight higher than the others. These places are where there is accidental geographic such as an open and is a bit deep crater. These open craters with a lower point is where the winds converges in their way going out of crater and this would be best place for Oppy to get cool...

Rodolfo

jvandriel,

I'm cotinually impressed by your panorama stitches that always come promt
and up to date: a real "live" coverage with phantastic images like there are no
comparable publications on the JPL site (they only sporadically publish the very big panorams ...
it's a pleasure to follow your "near real time" coverage
of up-to-date panoramic views !

keep up your great work !

Yeeah, a big bunch of flowers to Jvandriel!!!

In the last Navcams rather clearly visible: We are on higher ground now than before.

Nirgal said "jvandriel,

I'm cotinually impressed by your panorama stitches that always come promt
and up to date: a real "live" coverage with phantastic images like there are no
comparable publications on the JPL site ...
it's a pleasure to follow your "near real time" coverage
of up-to-date panoramic views !

keep up your great work ! "

I second that emotion... I don't have time to make pans myself right now, but I can do this:

Click to view attachment

The same pan in polar projection.

Phil

I took the polar projection from Phil and traced the best route toward the Mogollon rim:

Rodolfo

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...LAP0775L0M1.JPG

Ohhh just noticed this:

Opportunity's total odometry, as of completion of the drive on sol 608 (Oct. 9, 2005) is 6,036.06 meters (3.75 miles)

6KM yayyyy........ .

The endpoint of your proposed route is at another sort of "Erebus Highway".
Let's see the path taken from there to Mogollon Rim.

BTW, Oppy drove again on sol 616.
I took Phil's projection with your route proposal and plotted Oppy's current position.

Thanks guys,

for all the compliments. But the most compliments must be send to the Rover teams. They have made 2 great Rovers and are able to get the most science out of them.

For your information, a little background of me.

I have 2 hobby's:

1st and most inportant one, Spaceflight for almost 40 years.I have more than 400 books and reports about it. I have seen one Space Shuttle launch, STS 106, from the Kennedy Space Center in September 2000.

2nd computers for almost 20 years.

now with all that stitching I combine these 2 hobby's and i love to do it. Although i realise that they are not as good as the JPL ones and the coloured ones from some of this forum members.

Regarding time to make all those stitchings.
I am now retired for 2 years after 42 years of working. The last 14 years as a purchaser for a ship repair company in the harbour of Rotterdam.( my technical background ). With so many time, every day i check the JPL website for new images and download and sort them on my computer and when possible I make the panos of these images.

I am glad that so many off you appreciate the panos and i will continue doing that as long as i can do that.

That's it for now regarding my background.

jvandriel

And I'd like to add my thanks to Jan for his contributions.

That curved evaporite roadway on the left of Phil's polar projection ( and near the horizon of the current pans) is what I've termed "The Four Lane" (highway) fro a few weeks. It is our next goal, and the branch point of our next route decision: do we head Northwest around the dune complex or South into Erebus?

Attached is a crop from an earlier "way-around-Erebus" map I did last month. The Red dotted line is the actual path traveled (with updates), the Blue dotted line is the path that I originally speculated and the Blue dashed line current speculation.

As Rodolfo and Tesheiner suggest, Oppy may take a curved route to The Four Lane; my original dune-hugging route is looking too sandy.

--Bill

Imho, The Four Lane is just one day ahead.
It can be fully seen on sol 616 pancam images. Here you have it at full resolution.