How come that Opportunity has not moved for almost a week now. What are they doing? Does't look like they are using the IDD on anything. Are the taking panorama images??

Perhaps there is a lack of rover drivers so when Spirit has moved alot recently Opportunity got left behind

Looking ahead:
Sol 292: Burns Cliff remote science campaign continues
Sol 293: Burns Cliff remote science campaign continues (3-sol plan sol 1)
Sol 294: Burns Cliff remote science campaign concludes (3-sol plan sol 2)
Sol 295: Begin crater egress drive to east (3-sol plan sol 3)
Sol 296: Egress driving

Looks like we'll be out of the hole in less than a week or so...

They are currently doing some super-high resolution pancam imaging and remote science observations. Due to rover's position, UHF downlink bandwidth is limited, and that is happening at the same time the rover is gathering large amounts of data from the remote science. They are also using the 70-meter DSN antenna whenever they can to get all the data down...

Where do you get that info Pando?

Sol 295: Begin crater egress drive to east

Is that not the "Escape Hatch" Exit?

Thought they would go back the way they came in

Sol 296: Egress driving. Do you mean the rover starts to egress immediately to the east that day, or do you mean the long, long multisol backtrack egress to karatepe begins on that sol?

No, it's not the "Escape Hatch" exit. It's probably going to be the same route (Karatepe) they came in.

Egress driving means attempting to drive out of the crater. When will they actually complete the egress, don't know yet...

Heatshield

Here's my attempt at a pan of Burns Cliff:

http://mer.rlproject.com/index.php?act=Att...pe=post&id=2217

But Karatepe is to the west, not east.

You are right. Karatepe is to the west...

The Siren calls!

They've moved a little:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P1212L0M1.JPG

I think it's going to take quite a long tme to get out of Endurance.

a little? I think it is more than 3 meters... My guess is they are going to drive around the rim at this level towards Karatepe. Given the fact that they only drive 4 out of 7 days, I hope Opp will be out of the crater by January:

Last 10 sols:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...MIP1214R0M1.JPG

Now:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P1212L0M1.JPG

And to add to the east/west confusion: Looks like it's moving west.

Interview with Steve Squyres

http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?o...order=0&thold=0

Well, they have demonstrated that Oppy can drive longer distances in a day. I believe the drive that finally got them to level of Burn's Cliff was 5-10 metres.

Following their own tracks should be safe. I reckon Oppy will out of the crater this week :-)

Ok people. Time to place your bets. Which one is it gonna be?

I vote for the Cautious egress. We have seen how steep slopes Oppy can manage, so it will not be a problem to traverse the yellow line (but maybe sand could be a factor). Worst case they will just slide down and then take the slow egress

Don't think the Insane Egress is even an option
Looks more insane than "Escape Hatch"

Yup - I'll plump for "Cautious" as well. I don't see what good would be gotten out of going back down into the bottom of the crater again.

Karatape or whatever it's called is the Sllllow egress route - and that's where I think they'll go

Doug

Maybe they are going for the Insane

For some reasons - I have images of a red tie around the PMA - and the rover screaming BANZAIIIIIIIIII as it tackles that cliff-let



Doug

Judging from dot.dk's picture we can rule out the slllow Karatepe route. Sorry, no prize money for you today Doug. Looks like it will be the cautious or insane egress.

Since many of us here have already seen the 'ingenuity' of the MER-team when they proposed the 'escape hatch' route to the EAST of Burns cliff, it should come as no surprise that they may be trying the same thing to the WEST of Burns cliff. Also, this new 'escape hatch' is consistent with Pando's remarks that they were going to do an egress to the east. ( actually it is more to the south )

On the other hand, it is also possible they are just trying to stay on those nice clean rocks to the right in that image, towards the 'cautious' route...

I think they're probably trying to stay on the "slabs" to give the rover as much traction as possible - especially after what happened during the approach to Burns Cliff.

A final look at the 'insane' egresspath, a 35 degree angle. Anybody know what the maximum is?

They were sitting at 31 degrees at Burns Cliff, which I think was the maximum they had gone so far. I think they can manage up to 35 with the rover although that would be seriously pushing their luck...

I do think your angle measurement is a bit large though. It's probably around 30 if you readjust your angle.

I took that image from this Navcam pan:
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07066

I assumed that the craterrim on the left was exactly horizontal and went from there. Mistake?

Another subject, this latest image of Burns cliff:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...MIP2276L7M1.JPG

Look in the upperleft corner. See those overhanging layers sticking out!? Incredible. How can a crack form and let this thing stick out like that?

This is purely specuation, but I wonder if this doesn't support their idea that the rocks on the surface of Endurance have been altered after the crater formed. The face seems hardened, while the materials behind it were weathered away by the sand falling into the crater. Both the leftside sandfall, and the center sandfall seems to have left significant "tendrals" of resistant materials.

Roving right along


So will Oppy be out before the end of the week?

So they are not insane afterall. Good, good.
I hope they will be out of the crater before the end of NEXT week. If they are backtracking all the way to Karatepe I don't see them do it in less than six traverses. This is tricky terrain.

The path ahead looks quite sandy. I think they're just the other side of the "hump" visible in the pic at the top of this thread.

Yes they are just past or on top of the 'hump':
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...97P1230L0M1.JPG

And I think the path is not as sandy as you might think:


See the light toned path from the left side to the uppercenter of the image? 'The road ahead'!

Think if I were driving (and people that saw me behind the wheel would probably shudder at that thought), I'd be tempted to continually test the water as I was moving the rover along the rim as they are. Keep moving up obliquely as you're headed around parallel to the rim to see if maybe you might not have the power to pull yourself over the top. Of course you'd have to skip the areas where there are sheer rock faces but my guess is the rovers have pretty low centers of gravity and could handle some tough tilts. Oppy's proven it has pretty low slip on the rocks. I say go for it. Worst case is you back back down and go around a bit more.

Damn, looks like no hazcam images today. So Opportunity almost surely stays put for the sol. Next week for getting out of the crater then.

Spirit hasn't moved either. Thanksgiving maybe? a 5 day weekend? In that case, don't expect Opportunity to be out of the crater next week...

Spirit will egress Endurance at Karatepe. The closer route is too hazardous.

They are also taking a Thanksgiving break so little activity during this time.

Errrr Opportunity

I just can't see why they can't have people working on these machines in the weekends. Come on they are loosing a lot of time just letting them sit there doing nothing (beside from remote sensing)

Opportunity has moved again:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...ARP1311R0M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...ARP1230L0M1.JPG

Is it going to egress here?

That's what I thought when I saw the images, they can nearly see over the rim from this position: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...ARP1996R0M1.JPG

The slope doesn't look too forbidding, only the first few meters look dangerous.
However after this the ground does not appear very rocky on the road to the plains, at least in this
old panorama.

If Oppy has to leave via Karatepe, it will retrace at least a little of its path from last June. I wonder: do you think there will have been any weathering of its tracks in the past 5 months?

NEARLY there

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...D7P1311L0M1.JPG

I think it's done quite a long drive actually - 5 - 10m, straight past that white paved exit road, and much closer to Karatape (I knew it )

On this LARGE image - http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre..._cyl-B296R1.jpg I'd put them right on the right hand edge - about 295 degrees and at about 0 elevation.

Not a full on Karatape exit - but it will cross it's own track marks just outside the crater on the way to the heatshield - as remember it circled round the southern half of the crater as far as Burns Cliff before going in.

Right - I've done some REALLY bad images that depict what I THINK is the route the old girls taken since entering - very very roughly






Maybe I'm really wrong - but it's been difficult to keep track of what it's been doing to be honest

Doug

Yep, im pretty sure thats the rovers current position too. You can see the same two dark rocks sticking up above the surface in the hazcam image that are visible in the pancam image above.

I seriously doubt that any could be observed at all. Think about it - the rover has been on the surface for almost a year and there is no visible dust that can be seen on the solar panels (try that here on Earth). I don't think the winds are high enough to disturb the tracks in this short amount of time, and there is no precipitation.

The weathering takes over many thousands/millions of years.

Would be interesting to visit a rat-hole to see if/how much dust has moved around

Doug

Once out, we're going to the heatshield. Too bad that won't be the first stop of a short "engineering targets" campaign. Think about it, we could check out the heatshield, cruise on back to Eagle Crater, then stretch Oppy's legs and head out to the backshell/parachute.

A trek like that isn't totally out of the way of the route to Victory Crater. (More perpendicular I think!) Plus, they could use it to test out long day drives. (I'm thinking maybe 200m in a day here)

Probably not alot of science to be had in such a trek, but I wonder if one could see the parachute being moved around in the Martian breeze?

Anyway, just thinking out loud!

cheers,

Kelly

Hello everybody, I’am happy to have found this board. It’s full of information (and some speculation) you can’t get at the official website. But you already know this. I ask myself why are the guys at JPL so lazy in putting new infos (status reports, maps) online? You (in the US) pay for this tax.

Where are the latest pictures (haz- and navcam) of Opportunity from? Is there a release before they are put on the official site, because the latest at JPL are from sol 298? I believe they press on for the heatshield and exit this week?!

Analyst from Germany (excuse my English)

The JPL RAW Web page has been kept up to date for the last couple of months - it's probably just a blip that they haven't updated Opportunity's images the last few days.

I'm not sure a visit to the backshell/parachute would provide any useful inforamtion, plus it could be potentially dangerous, the rover could become tangelled in the parachutes suspension lines.

The main reason we dont get many updates from JPL is because they're now running on very little money. It's the minimum number of staff running normal 9-5 hours and it doesnt leave much time to do the publicity side of things.

As for the raw imagery - we all look here - http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/ - it's very very quickly updated sometimes.

Doug ( from England, it's not my tax money )

Also, due to the usual bureaucratic process in any government agency, any official news or information release will have to go through the usual check and approval process. Combine that with the staff reductions and we get what we get...

That's not to say that there aren't other sources to get information from

What made me wonder about this was the speculation that a dust devil or high wind may have been behind a 'cleaning event' that caused the sudden increase in Oppy's power.

If indeed a dust devil blew through Endurance last month, don't you think that the most recently-disturbed soil would be the most likely to have been disturbed? If looking at 5-month-old rover tracks showed that dust had indeed been disturbed since it was last photographed, that would provide at least indirect evidence for the dust devil cleaning theory.