Made this colour composite from L3, L5 and L6 taken on Sol 68

Tthe colours seem to look OK, but whats with the white dust from the RAT grind? Anyone else want to try and see if they get a similar result.

This image from the microscopic imager shows the surfavce covered in tiny white/bright partciles from the grind too:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...AQP2956M2M1.JPG

I think it's just very overexposed rather than white dust per se. If you look at the component images, all are maxed out in that area (pixel values 255). The sun is just at the right angle evidently to make that dust very bright (note short shadow cast towards the bottom of the frame).

you can see an inredibly fine dusting of material in the soil below the rock that also appears white.

Opportunity has driven away from bounce rock now and its facing more of the rock outcrop on the plains: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P1966L0M1.JPG

Great image. The light color of the dust is very intriguing. Even if it is not white, it seems much lighter than the dust produced by the other rats. The fact that so much of it was produced suggests that this rock is might be softer than the others.

Just keep roving, just keep roving, just keep roving...

Somehow - these rovers remind me of Dorie from Finding Nemo sometimes

How far do you think Opportunity moved? Its hard to tell - but it looks like quite a distance. I wish they would give us regular updates for the rovers again No new images from Spirit at the exploratorium site, perhaps they're updating the flight software today?

This "vanishing point" shot can give a measure of distance all by itself, although it's hard to be very accurate. The distance between the wheel tracks is 2.25m. Each hazcam pixel (near the center of the frame) is 2.1 mrad of arc (from camera specs). Hard to tell where exactly the tracks fade away, but it's at least at far as this point:



The track width at the distance marked by the red line is 28 pixels = 28*2.1 = 59 mrad. The distance to that line is then 2.25/.059 = 38 meters. But the rover just might have turned at that point, or maybe the tracks beyond are hard to see, hard to tell. But at least that much.

I've heard that it may have travelled as much as 100 metres.

Doug

The view of Endurance crater looks almost as detailed as the ones taken through pancam back in the crater, you can see details in the far wall in the images.

And some people thought the plains would be flat and featureless, what a view !!

Is the name "Endurance" a nod to Sir Ernest Shackleton & crew? Hope so... the rovers just might outlast the winter.

"For scientific leadership, give me Scott;
For swift and efficient travel, Amundsen;
But when you are in a hopeless situation, when there seems to be no way out, get on your knees and pray for...
SHACKLETON!"

-- Sir Raymond Priestley (1886 - 1974), a British Geologist and Antarctic explorer who accompanied Shackleton on the 1907-1913 Antarctic expeditions

So far the rovers and their operators are an amalgam of all three.

There was a SUPERB dramatization called 'Shackleton' here in the UK on Channel 4. I bought it on DVD, a SUPERB telling of an amazing turn of events.

Doug

The one with Kenneth Branaugh? That was on the A&E network here in the colonies.

On the upcoming Martian "winter" for the intrepid rovers, it's a little different than Earthly intuition would suggest. Since both rovers un-Shackleton-like are pretty near the equator, the angle of the sun and daylength doesn't change all that much regardless of the season, BUT since the orbit of Mars is highly elliptical it just so happens that Mars's farthest distance from the sun coincides with the upcoming northern winter. All in all, a 40% reduction in solar energy reaching the solar panels at the worst (next September). So it's less to do with axis tilt and the normal idea of seasons than with the eccentric orbit (aka English orbit ).

Joe

The track width used above sounded too large so I checked in a recent article in JGR - Planets by Joy Crisp et al. and they give 1.22 m for the wheelbase in that direction; it is 1.41 m between the front and back wheels on one side. The 2.25 m is the maximum width of the deck.

Regarding projected lifetimes, there was this comment in the CNN version of a new AP report about the rovers:

"NASA has extended the mission through September. If the rovers continue to function, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will apply for money to extend the project again, Adler said."

Nick Hoffman did say on another board (HBZ) that he heard informally at LPSC perhaps 400+ Sols! Of course, an actuator or circuit board could go out at any time, but based on environmental constraints maybe these things really are that robust.

that white outcropping stuff seems to be everywhere! Very interesting site indeed, despite its flatness.

The latest flight directors update: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/flight-director/index.cfm

Total drive distance for Spirit 636m.

Yesterdays drive on Opportunity was a huge 100.4m

Thanks for the correct track width, Pete.