Ok, to help us all cool down a bit while we wait for software to upload and Oppy to reach The Edge, here's a question for you...

If you could click your fingers right now, and magically transport yourself to Mars, which of the many fascinating places Spirit or Opportunity has visited so far would you want to visit for yourself? Which feature would you like to reach out and touch in person? Which view would you like to see for yourself, eyes shielded from the Sun by your gloved hand?

And if you could have just one person there with you - maybe someone who you wish you could show Mars to, share your passion for it with, or hear their thoughts on the planet - who would it be..?

That's a good question.

I don't know... If I can transport me near the rovers, I could want to go to Bonneville Crater and then go to the heat shield on the far rim. This piece should have dig the ground in 30 cm or more. I though that there are interesting things under the ground.
On the Oppy site, I could go to the rear shield and the parachute to examine the soils comportement under the capsule with the prolongated period of darkness. And after, go to Anatolia to verifying if there are cavity under the ground, and if there are thos features, taking speleologic equipement and explore the cavities.

I would sit here :
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre...-A603R1_br2.jpg
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre...-A625R1_br2.jpg

The everest outcrop atop Husband Hill. Nice spot to sit down - after a bit of a climb - to

Part of me would like to sit aside Endurance, but scientifically stunning though Meridiani has been, it just does not feel like the 'real' Mars that I've loved since I was a kid.

And obviously, I'd have to share it with Helen. She's put up with a lot being a card carrying mars-widow - but I know she'd enjoy the view...as long as it wasn't too cold

D

Standing in Endurance crater looking up to Burns cliff.

I'd be on top of Husband Hill too. I grew up in one of the flattest parts of the midwest US, so Meridiani looks a little too much like home (minus the corn & bean fields, of course ) Since Spirit landed I've been entranced by the view of hills around her, and especially the shadowy rim of Gusev far off in the distance.

I have to admit that Spirit is my favorite rover, and when I saw those pictures of her dragging her bum wheel along, I started to get all teary

I'd like to stretch my legs and stride out over those plains. We know why the rovers must move so slowly but it's frustrating sometimes- it would be so great to just *go*, get some miles behind me in an hour or two.

After my hike, I'd like to sit at Larry's Lookout, or the rim of Endurance, and watch the sun go down.

Making castles in El Dorado sandbox...

I've actually long imagined starting at the landers and retracing the rovers' journeys. This would be an easy afternoon stroll for both (so far, that is, unless they put on many more kms).

For Spirit I could do this even if the tracks had completely worn away, I know the route that well. For Oppy, it'd be tougher without tracks, given the sparcity of landmarks.

Of course I'd want to see things we missed: parachutes, Spirit's backshell, more Columbia peaks, complete the circumnavigation of Endurance.

Still, given the incredible imaging coverage of these missions (and with the help of the IMAX flick!), I think I can imagine pretty well what it would be like to be there. These very alien places have become very familiar.

I'd hang my feet out over Burns Cliff. For alien landscapes, craters are the thing. Would of course much prefer Victoria, but who knows if we'll ever get there? (ducks and covers..)

Great answers so far, but I notice only one person has answered the second part of the question... who would you want to share that view with? They can be someone you know, or someone you don't know... someone living or dead, real or fictional...

Steve

Spirit: Home Plate. Running around it like mad.

Opportunity: Burns Cliff or Payson. Counting layers and layers and layers....

Olivier de Goursac naturally

Good question, and if I can only pick one location my answer comes automatically. It would be Meridiani, flat as it is, its the place I would like to walk around and pick up one of those blueberry filled rocks, bang it against another rock to see if its as hard as plaster or perhaps a tad harder.
If I got someone with me, well it would be my friend whom I've shown images from Mars on almost a weekly basis, he's also the one who would be able to tell me if there really are Karst formations under the soft sand there.
If I allow a flight of the imagination and we also got some equipment like rope and lamps, well then we would take up some pickaxes and start to widen a hole so we could get down to see those older layers of the bedrock and fill our backpacks with samples from the earliest possible layer we can reach to bring back home.

I'd want to be atop Husband Hill like Doug said. Then, I'd descend and look for clues as to how the abyss got filled in by the time Spirit got there.

Somehow, the Ultreya 'Sandbox' sounds so much less mysterious and fascinating.

My most absurd, impossible, but completely breathtaking fantasy since sol 1 of both rovers: being able to see the craft falling out of the sky (me, my wife, my twin daughters, my 20 year old cat, my brother and two of my best friends being on the surface allready), rocket to a hold, bump further in their own clouds of dust, come to a halt, unfurl, etc. The whole arrival, including egress. Wouldn't that be something to witness for real ?

That's why i am so excited about "live" video footage of MSL....can't wait.

I'd have to pick Arad, inside the Inner Basin of the Columbia Hills. I can't imagine the excitement of being able to lightly scrap at the dull dusty surface, exposing the fantastically bright salts below. Add in a noon-time dust devil show, and I'd be a happy guy.

Who would I want to share this experience with? The late, great Carl Sagan.

My choice for Spirit would be right where she is right now repairing the stuck wheel so we could see much more exciting pictures in the future.

As for Oppy. I would be where she is now putting on Dune Buggy wheels so I can ride back to Endurance to take in the amazing view in style.

I'd drag Percival Lowell to the top of Husband hill.

Me: Dude, no canals
Percival: Wow, really dry here.
Me: Yup. Did you bring the water?
Percival: Doh!

Stu: Great topic to help us while away the time before the big show. My imagination is running wild...

MizarKey: That's bad, but very funny.

These questions are easy for me to answer. I'd go to Home Plate and Victoria Crater, since they are probably the two most geologically interesting places either rover has seen. (Ok, we are not yet officially _at_ Victoria yet, but we probably will be there before this thread dies.

To follow up on something fredk mentioned, and assuming I still have that "snap my fingers to go there" ability, I'd arrive early in the morning at Spirit's landing site and start following it's path to the hills, up to the top, over the other side, down into the inner basin past Home Plate, and maybe have lunch on the hill where she is now waiting for Spring. Then, I'd snap my fingers...

...and transport myself to Opportunity's landing site in Eagle crater, where I would scoop up a handful of blueberries to add to my pack of rock samples collected in Gusev. (Ok, it may be night time at Meridiani, but let's assume I have a flashlight.) Then I would follow Opportunity's trek to Endurance and then southward to Victoria, where I would just have to climb down to some areas where Opportunity probably will not be able to go. Of course, I would be taking pictures along the way to post back here to share the journey with all of you.

Stu's last question is a little more difficult. Who would be the one person I would take along? Most of the people that are closest to me wouldn't really appreciate being transported to a frigid and arid planet, no matter how interesting it was. Here is my short list:

...Steve (already mentioned by dot.dk)

...Bill Harris

...Doug

...an interplanetary communication specialist, so I could relay the story to this forum as it unfolds.

Then, if there was any time left, I'd beam myself to the top of Husband Hill to catch a sunset and the dying dust devils while sipping a glass of wine.

It is hard to improve on what previous posters have said without cheating a little. Can I have a trail bike and go for a ride up into the mouth of Ma'adim Vallis? As for company, I'd like to invite the young author of Sands of Mars up there and watch him getting his first peek at the real deal.

Of course the present day Arthur C. Clarke has surely seen and enjoyed the same pictures as we all have and I hope I can at least imagine what it has meant to him. Maybe on one of the rovers' upcoming milestones and anniversaries he will pay us a visit, (if he has not already done so). That would be almost as cool as actually strolling around Gusev with him.

Very hard to pick a single place so probably husband hill for the view and outcrops. I, (like Marcel) would also love to be there as the rovers landed and see them start there fantastic journeys.
and like Slinted, would take Carl Sagan.

Nice topic Stu. While I mainly lurk I love this forum and am on tenter hooks waiting to see Victoria where who knows what geological wonders await us and maybe we will have another picnic, I enjoyed the one in Gusev.

Roy F.

In my day we did have your gall-darn Recon orbitors, and and your, uh, wheely robot cars! In my day, we had to walk uphill in the snow to get to our little telescopes all the way back on Earth! Kids these days.....

Me, I'd go to Home Plate and start digging around the periphery to see if I could identify any evidence of hydrothermal vent processes.

And, as long as the person I'd like to share it with doesn't have to be alive today -- I'd have Carl Sagan along with me. I would really enjoy the sense of wonder in his eyes as we hiked around the Martian landscape...

-the other Doug

I would like to arrive at Mars with my family of 3 children in my truck in the middle of Gusev Crater waiting for the arrival of Spirit mother spacecraft. Then be watching on how wonderful the parachutche is dropping, the TIRSE is trying to stabilize the spacecraft and also the others propellant trying to slow down very close to the land and watching as a marvelous on how the ball is bounced from Martian surface many times. Then take a nice trip with my truck around Gusev Crater, visiting Ma'adin Vallis, the buried crater close to Columbia Hills, Hira, climb to Columbia Hill and also to the top of McMurdo. After that, go down toward to Home Plate with a slow driving with Four-Low-High. At the end of Martian day, I would stop by El Dorado to open the basket to take some food and fresh drinking and play with my children with surfsand on the slope of El Dorado until the sun set on the rims of Gusev. Then it is time to go back home on Earth in a special powered truck.

Rodolfo

How about a trailer with a couple of ATV's so you and the kids can spend some time racing around Bonneville Crater?

Hang on, with all that hardware that's more like a single family COLONISATION effort than sightseeing!

Been thinking long on this one.. I'll take ..still not sure.. Eos Chasma! Okay, that's against the rules.

Lahontan Crater. Looking at Spirit's courageous tracks on both sides and having a good look at the Columbia Hills as a whole.

Maybe we can have an orbital mystery-man map to see where we all end-up.

Beam me up now please

Nico

Hello Dan, Good idea

Rodolfo

As for me, I think I'd spend my time in the Columbia Hills. Hopefully I'd be allowed to bring a pick and a shovel. As for WHO to bring, I think there's no question; Ray Bradbury.

I would definitely want to sit on the lander in eagle crater and see stone mountain with my own eyes. And I would take my wife and kids.

I'd take Hoagland to Cydonia and say "see, it's just a f****ng hill, man!"

Nico

Greetings fellow Marsaholics!

I'm new to the site but have been following the recent posts quite closely (I wish I knew this site a year ago!). From the depth of some discussions, I take it a lot of you are professionals (planetary geologists, engineers, physicists). I feel priviledged to be a part of this community.

As for this post, I've always wanted to see that first bounce spot that Spirit made. How deep did it go? What level of disruption took place? From there I'd love to follow each and every bounce to the lander. Of course, being there and seeing it for real, as others have mentioned, would be the ultimate experience.

Then, I'd jump on a motorcycle and head northeast(?), and take in "Monument Valley", as described by MGS:

http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/E01_E06_sampler2002/meridiani/ ://http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc...002/meridiani/ ://http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc...002/meridiani/ ://http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc...002/meridiani/

With whom? Carl Sagan

from the desk of RubberoidLifeform (Pete)

...and I'll bring Jim

Hard to answer so late in the queue.
I first thought of been at the landing site to see the landing. As I’ve seen Spirit landing from Pasadena, I’d love to compare the video of the landing with what really happened at that time . And Yes, Carl Sagan would have been my first pick, before Ray Bardbury.
Reaching Husband hill summit and then sitting on Everest’s rock will be my dream . Then, I’ll go downhill following Spirit tracks. I was impressed by the steepness of the slopes on the East side of Husband Hill and I’ll probably run downhill, as I do on such terrain here on Earth, and enjoy lower gravity doing so . I’ll go then to Home Plate for the BBQ party hoping not to be late to meet so many nice people . But, even if I’ll prefer to be with all of you at the BBQ party, I think I’d better bring a politician along with me to show him what Man can do with good will and a little bit of money. Once done, I’ll bring him to Meridianii so show him what diversity is. I’ll finally go to the far rim to sit on the beacon and see the sun set on the other side of Victoria

Whilst I like the idea of Ustrax playing in the sand on the lee side of Husband Hill, and was sorely tempted to join him there with some major regolith-moving machinery, in 2008 I hope H. G. Wells, Arthur Clarke, Kim Stanley Robinson and myself will be removing the stromatolite fossils that unfortunately buried Oppy at the base of a cliff inside Victoria, a full two years after her arrival in late September 2006...

Andy G

Both Spirit and Oppy have done a stupendous job. The photos they have returned make me feel like I've already seen those parts of Mars. So just put me at the landing site of either rover, and I'll take off in the opposite direction from which they travelled. I just want to see something new. What's over that hill? What's down in that crater? Are there any lava tubes to explore?

Who would go with me? That's a tough one. But I think I would like to share the traverse with Galileo or Leonardo. I would like them to see what we have been able to accomplish in the centuries since they lived.

David

OK Doug, a little belated, but your wish is my command.
Enjoy! You and Helen deserve it.

Astro0

Click to view attachmentFile:157k

and the desktop version...
Click to view attachmentFile:127k

Unfortunately, these days you can't go anywhere (even Mars) without some other tourist stepping in and spoiling the picture.

with a nod to fredk

Nice touch

Doug

Having had the advantage of seeing the first navcams from Victoria, I would have to say I would want to be where Opportunitiy is RIGHT NOW! What a thrill it would be to see Victoria opening up before my eyes as I slowly stroll toward the rim!

Definitely centsworth, I agree. The most spectacular view yet, IMHO.

Hold that thought for a moment. This time of high-excitement may not be the best time to consider this, but some of us should put our heads together and create an official card that our deserving and beloved spouses can actually carry, to prove that they have earned such special recognition. I am sure some of our long-neglected partners would be happy to know that we do think of them in almost real-time, in between rover updates.

CosmicRocker,
Here's my concept for the 'UMSF MARS WIDOW CARD' - Don't Leave Earth Without It!
Click to view attachment
Enjoy
Astro0

PS: If anyone actually wants the original file to produce a card, just drop me a line.

That card is just great!
I already made a print. I'd like the original file if possible, for a laminated version

Thanks!

Nico

OO yeah - gimme gimme - that's getting laminated

Doug

Well done! Please add me to the distribution list, too.

I would follow it to Victoria. The view from the rim must be awesome with all the dunes at the bottom of the crater.

Doug, maybe we need a thread just for the Mars Widows.
Could make for a very interesting conversation.

Here's the artwork for the card.
Click to view attachmentFile:520k
Enjoy
Astro0