Do you think it's likely that Opportunity will spend the rest of it's operational life inside Endurance crater? I'm certainly getting that impression from some of the recent news briefings.

If it survives the winter, perhaps they'll go for a nice spring drive

I dont imagine they'll decend a great deal further into the crater - and to be honest, I think it's succesfully traversed up AND down the hardest part of the drive it might encounter.

I think they may well spend another few weeks here - rating and spectrometer work on the rocks further down the crater wall - then leaving for the heatshield and perhaps the etched terrain to the south - maybe finding a small rock with which to tilt the rover sunward for a couple of weeks during solar conjunction.

I fear for Spirit more than Opportunity - Spirit hasmore than twice the metres on the clock and is mechanically beginning to show age in that one wheel which could be an oman for wheels dying one by one - or just a bit of a freak.

Doug

They didnt seem too concerned about the wheel at the press briefing, they said they could drive the rover easily on 5 wheels, and had even driven them on 2/3 wheels.

When the rover is moving, some of the time only 3 wheels are touching the surface anyway (forming a triangle), so yes, they can go with 3 wheels. The limiting factor is which wheels are failing. If they fail all on one side, obviously they can't just use the 3 good wheels on the other side to move - the mission would be over. Similarly if both front wheels fail, I doubt the rover is usable with the back wheels only.

Oh - I know that one wheel failing isnt a particular problem - but as one gearbox fails, whats to suggest that the others will not follow shortly? Perhaps, of the 12 wheels on mars - that one is the only one which will exhibit trouble ( which they may eleviate by heating it a great deal and redistributing lubricant as suggested ) - or perhaps it's a trend that all wheels will begin to show similar signs at some point after 3km

Either way - it's worked 5x past it's design already

Doug

I sure would like to see some positive press that would accentuate this point. Media is always quick to "amplify" failures and rarely make a big deal out of more-than-expected successes.

In my opinion, the most impressive example of "over-achieving" is the NEAR landing on Eros. I remember news articles saying things like, "NASA lands on an asteroid." But noone seemed to make a big deal out of the fact that it wasn't even designed to land! It was only an orbiter. Not only did it actually land, it STILL WORKED after landing!

Same thing with these Rovers. They've lasted nearly two times their designed lifetime, and both have outperformed designed traverse distances.

Arguably, this mission may well be the best "bang for the buck" that NASAs ever seen. Althgouh, it is hard to top Voyager!

cheers everyone,

Kelly

(1) Opportunity may have reached the underlying dark basalt sandstone stratum in Endurance Crater by now -- at any rate, see its two latest Pancam photos from Sol 145:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...90P2561L7M1.JPG

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...90P2561R1M1.JPG

...and compare them with the planned schedule of events for the rover as of June 17 (courtesy of James Oberg):

Sol 141 Finish up MB integration [on light-colored "Tennessee" rock], remote sensing, then approach next target.
Sol 142 Take survey of "contact" area (APXS, MI, MB), possible repositioning for RAT.
Sol 143 RAT next target, take MI, start MB.
Sol 144 Long MB and overnight APXS.
Sol 145 RAT next target, take MI, start MB.
Sol 146 Long MB and overnight APXS.
Sol 147 Drive on? Do something else?

(4) Note the rather dizzying perspective Opportunity is now getting from its position down the slope of Endurance:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...90P0634R0M1.JPG

...and the splendid view it's gotten of Burns Cliff from there:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...90P2556L7M1.JPG

Even to my amateur eye, there appears to be some serious crossbedding over to the left...looks just like crossbedded strata you see in the sandstone of southern Utah.