Bye, bye, Erebus!
The journey south has started and I think it's time to start a new thread.

This is a very first estimation of the current position after sol 760 drive, plotted on top of a previous route proposal; I will double-check that once the back-looking navcams are downlinked.

Click to view attachment (141k)
(Sol 758 "drive-direction" pancam mosaic)

Edited: I measured the net drive to that point; it's about 31-33m35m.

PS: Algorimancer, your Photogrammetry and RangeFinder Application is simply great!!!

Yes, onward bound! I hope Oppy gets Pancam images of the bedrock exposures as she moves away from away from this field of eroded craters. We need to document lateral changes in the Burns formation.

--Bill

Seeing Oppy leaving Erebus is almost as good as seeing it arrive at Victoria (sometime this year we hope)

Wasn't there supposed to be a certain point where the terrain begins to slope to the south and there was to be a "hell of a view" of the plains (and Victoria) spread out in view before us? Where was this to occur in relation to where Oppy currently is? Or am I recalling something else?

That's right, but it's probably a few hundred meters ahead.

Phil

As I recall it's near the midpoint between Erebus and Victoria. That should be an interesting point for 360 degree panarama. (Has anyone thought of that?)

Interesting horizontal 'layering' in a dune here, I can't recall seeing it so clearly elsewhere(until this side of Erebus):

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...KEP0695L0M1.JPG

I remember seeing a lot of this most of the way between Endurance and now, but this is probably the most consistent and smoothest example before us. I assume this layering depicts the cyclic changes in weather patterns related to sand deposition. As the dunen get eroded, it reveals the strata created by earlier episodes where dunes get cemented by relatively stable weather and then covered during by episodes of higher sand transport.

The question which I hope someone here could answer, is how long these episodes are likely to be (are talking about episodes separated by decades long weather changes, or much longer changes due to pole procession?) Or maybe this hypothesis is off-base, just a guess...

Opinions seem to vary between slow and very slow movement - I'd buy even s-l-l-l-o-o-o-o-w-e-r. Precession of the poles and similar global changes strike me as being about right, but I'm sure there are other opinions.

BTW, I noticed an interesting article in New Scientist today regarding crater distribution and so forth - I'll post in the LPSC thread rather than here, though!

Bob Shaw

I've ever seen this sort of "layering" dune. On my website, there is a color example of this dune (who are everywher around the landing site) :

Thinking about it, the 'layering' may be an artefact of the psaltation of the particles involved, with - putting it crudely - bigger lumps simply failing to climb the hill.

Bob Shaw

Oppy drove some 50m southwards (heading ~160º) on sol 762 and is currently at aprox. 25m of the outcrop on the center of this navcam pano.

Click to view attachment (195k)

Need to see some of the look-back-Navcams to really call it, but the driving actually looks a lot easier than I was expecting around here

Doug

Seems they are simply following the "valleys". The dunes in this area have a mean heading of 160º-170º, so that's the direction they are driving.

Alot of the image is missing, but do these dunes look alot smaller than the ones Opportunity encountered on it's way to Erebus? I thought they would be much bigger.

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...RXP2370L2M1.JPG

This is good news. I was hoping that the ripples-- driving surface, actually-- would has as good a pavement as we had during the "North Erebus Detour" or North of Purgatory 1. Keep in the ripple troughs, or the 'half tube' as the drivers call it and we should make good time.

--Bill

Here's Tesheiner's half-pan from 762 in my usual polar form. It's easy to match that triangular outcrop with the latest route map. Presumably we'll be on it after the next drive.

Phil

Click to view attachment

That was the aim point since they left Erebus on sol 760.
I wonder if they will maintain the current heading (about SSE) after that outcrop or will start driving SE following the rocks...

I suspect that they will go SSE using the rock outcrops as stepping stones whenever they can. Traveling in the troughs is not bad, but there is less uncertainty on rock. Remember that surprise that we had between South Shetland and "The Fourlane".

--Bill

I'm assuming Opportunity is in restricted sols at the moment... any idea how many more days it will last?

Given the current timing Meridiani/JPL I would say Oppy is no longer on restricted sols. However, it's a weekend.

I just checked the tracking web and tomorrow (Sunday) will be driving day.

Check out the bottom right of this panorama. More mini-craters.

Closeup

One on the far left of this picture

Visible here, lower right, with a cosmic ray hit right near it.

Well and truly leaving Erebus behind now. Looks like they made the right decision to explore the west rim rather than take the shorter east rim route south- not much to see from here…

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...RXP1795L0M1.JPG

I am very impressed by these 50M drives, I was expecting something in the 30m distance per drive sol. Is there an simple relationship between drive distance and drive time, based on start/stops for autonav?

I figure it has to do with the fact that they've got more experience driving, and the time spent at the various Purgatories has helped the drivers learn how to drive the rover more efficiently. And with better dune-detection parameters on the wheels (I guess it goes based on resistance), the rover can decide for itself if it's going into dangerous territory.

As I understand it - every X metres, the rover does a single visidom to measure actual progress compared to commanded progress. If there's above Y% slip, the drive aborts.

Doug

Pretty picture from Sol 758: (2x2 Pancam L257 false-color)

Another step on the way to Victoria.
Oppy drove about 45m on sol 765, up to the far edge of that triangular outcrop seen on 762 images.

She didn't take any navcam pics of the track behind her and the sun was relatively high when the cameras were going so I am a little disorientated after this weekends' drive. Would this be the view in the direction of Victoria?

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...YQP0695L0M1.JPG

In any case, it is clear she is moving onto higher ground as the horizon is getting a bit further away, and the dunes in the immediate area look easy. Directly south, though, it looks more rugged:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...YQP0695L0M1.JPG

Oh - a full Navcam pan will have been taken at the end of the drive, but the forward facing images are a higher priority than the backward facing ones, so they'll come down overnight or tomorrow.

Doug

Here is the 360 degree panoramic view from Sol 760.

Taken with the L0 navcam.

jvandriel


and here from Sol 762.

Also taken with the L0 navcam.

jvandriel

and a look with the L2 pancam on Sol 762.

jvandriel

Another move on sol 766.
Edited: The net drive (assuming the location below is correct) was aprox. 35m.

This is the last navcam mosaic

Click to view attachment

... and where I think the rover is, based on 765 pancam images.

Click to view attachment

Hi all,

As a longtime lurker I would just like to thank Tesheiner and so many others for the fine work they do in creating a context for the rovers' travels. Until I found this forum, I found it quite difficult to place the rovers at times until JPL did an updated route map.

If I could make a newbie request...

Could you occasionally mark Victoria's edges on the horizon of these pans so I know in which direction I should be straining my eyes?

Thanks
Brian

I was sort of expecting this. If you look at the best orbital images (sorry, don't have one handy) you can see that the texture of the dunes gets somoother the closer you get to the etched terrain.

Yeah, you guys are doing great work ! Vandriel (groeten uit Edam), Tesheiner, you guys are fast !

I suddenly feel that Oppy's going to make it to Victoria. I'm almost sure.

I love these machines ! They are incredible. Let us not forget (it has been a thread before) to step beyond the daily stream of images sometimes and realize that they wake up every morning (just like we do), doing what they're told to....(just like we do....most of the time), work like dogs (like we do), struggle through problems (), go to sleep when energy's running out (), and warm their skins in the sun as soon as they can(). Without having a single cell alive in them.

I love to see the looong tracks on the images again, it's been a while...

Go Oppy Go (and don't break a wire) !

Welcome to the forum, Brian.

With or without markings you can do the following. Since they started the trek towards Victoria, the imaging pattern has been always the same: a 5x1 navcam panorama centered at 162º. Given that those navcam shots are spaced 36º (10x36=360) and that Victoria is currently at 150º (16º fov), the result is that it should be "visible" at the center image, just a bit to the left.

Or you can always check at the "Victoria on the Horizon" thread.

I think of Spirit as a rock climber, and Opportunity as a ship, sailing on the ocean from port to port...

According to "MER Pancam Data Tracking Site" there will be no driving today...


...or am I reading these data wrong?

A complete 360 degree panoramic view on the way to Victoria.

Taken with the L0 navcam on Sol 765.

jvandriel

This is the complete pancam L2 view from Sol 765.

jvandriel

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