Nooooooo!!!!!!

Touch wood, throw some salt, and please refer to it as The Scottish Wheel in the future.

Or, should we advise Opportunity to "break a wheel"?

Thanks Tman

I don't know if made mention to this already but the crater where Oppy is headed is NOT Erebus, just got an email from SS clearing that point:


"Is the "not yet named" crater referenced (on the TPS blog) here Erebus?

No... it's a different crater, very subdued topographically, but visible in MOC and HiRISE data. We have not made the decision on where to go yet, but it is a leading candidate."

I'm sure you guys can spot it...

OOPs removed my own post for silly suggestion Sorry

Are you kidding? That's Endurance.

See above a moment of madness

So is it the crater that Erebus is embedded in?

Good MOC context image here:
http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/r10_r15/im...5/R1500822.html

The route context image is a bit cropped in that direction:
http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/r22_s04/im...2/R2200640.html

Or Hirise, upside down (use "full image")
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_004289_1780
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/TRA_000873_1780

Sol 1625
Next successful drive.
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That's a very succesfull drive - I'll have to send some kudos to Paolo for that!

D

Ah, not sure where I should post this, but an image (a pretty decent one I should say) from Opportunity created by an UMSF user was used in a SPACE.com article yesterday.

Just thought I should mention.

Funny, I just rediscovered that image on my HD two days ago while collecting interesting mars images for 2008 (thus far). Having been one of the world's worst weather observers I have a special place in my heart for landscapes with clouds.


-- Pertinax

Heh. They've used that image on space.com before, in fact I think it's popped up elsewhere as well. Someday when I have spare time I'd like to do a QuickTime VR version of that scene using the PDS IMG files... but I'd have no idea how to colorize it, or fill in the gap between the horizon and the sky.

(Adding: and if you don't know the story of that image, it was actually an ad hoc collaboration between several people on this forum, myself included.)

Will it be tosol?

Hehe! The usage in the SPACE.com article doesn't matter that much then.

Anyhow, great work and thanks for the info.

Oops, didn't see the missing pics came in days ago:

960kb: http://www.greuti.ch/oppy/clouds4.gif

Additionally the visibility of the clouds is improved without too excessive contrast, I think.

Did Oppy exit Victoria? if not, then how many sols should we wait? have you got any new photos(after Sol1625)?

There are problems with the pipe that chucks the raw imagery online at the moment. There were some post-drive images on 1627 commanded, but not yet downlinked. Not sure about 1626, and 1625 is online.

No, the latest for sol 1628 shows we're at the same site as on sol 1625.

Looks to me like there was supposed to be a drive on sol 1627 but it didn't happen, I don't know if that was aborted or if there was a change of plan (or if I've misread the database).

The next drive is planned for sol 1630. I'd be surprised if Oppy exited Victoria on this drive, I would imagine they will get close to the top before having a short drive across the lip.

Three more drives, out by next weekend if I had to guess.

James

Nobody seems to have noticed that on sol 1620, Opportunity had been at Victoria crater for one full Mars year! Keep going, Oppy!

Sol 1630 - successful drive !
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Definitely the same way out as in:

In: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...RP1305L0M1.HTML

Out:

Yes, if you look at the top-left of the centre image peter59 posted you can see the tracks across the rim dune from the entry.

Seems like yesterday.

I made and posted this a year ago... seems appropriate to post it again as Oppy prepares to drive out of Victoria Crater...

Click to view attachment

I guess they choose to use the entry path to get out and to avoid any inconvenience in crossing the dune...
Yes, it looks like yestersol.

Well, that's not really a surprise, is it? They originally chose this spot as the safest way in and out of the crater. Then they did the "toe dip" and backed out to prove they could exit before going deeper. They had proof-positive that Opportunity could climb out here without difficulty. Unless they had been able to drive inside the crater to a different bay, this was almost guaranteed to be the exit point.

Almost
Click to view attachment

I'm actually excited to see the annulus again!
Flat...featureless...safe.
Roll on Opportunity, new horizons await.

Astro0

comparing the brightened rear hazcam view
Click to view attachment
to the images from the toedip
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...nity_r1291.html
the rear wheels are just below the lip
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...EP1325R0M1.HTML

Spaceweather.com

So close... so close...

Click to view attachment

Bet yes, time to move on... Wonder await, Oppy!

Is that the Beacon on the &@%¤ side of Vicky that starts to show in Stu's view?

Not if they are headed over to the region around Erebus again.

Even if it's to a never-before-seen unnamed crater?

Anything to the north is covered with large dunes until you get back up past Viking and Voyager craters.

As far as I have heard that the next Opportunity mission would be in looking for any cobblers on the way? Indeed, the during search way would be toward to Erebus crater?

Remember the Steve Squires hint, and Ustrax challenge:

There are some very subdued craters in the area. I wonder if it's one of those.
Click to view attachment
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/070628/pia09691.html

Well my original point still stands, anything in those directions would involve the old sand dune zig-zag.

But it brings up another point. What the heck is there to investigate in those subdued craters? At least Erebus had some outcrops and rock exposures to examine. But I can't see the point of going to what amounts to a very large Viking Vostok Crater. (But I'm sure they have some goals in mind that we will soon be made aware of.)

EDITED

Maybe someone spotted something interesting in an MRO image.

Oppy's going to run away without taking a closer look at the other 2/3 of Victoria's rim?

And Oppy! Please do not forget to capture a "complete" image row of the rising shadows in Victoria before you leave!

That's what I find surprising too.

I think they're going to go south and look at more rim.

But exploring the entire rim in the same detail we have done so far would be a 2 year long process, and at some point it just becomes stamp-collecting rather than science.

Yes, I think we'll gain another perspective of Duck bay (at least) which could help to understand the whole story

I love when one write both the question and the answer

The hope must be that they expose different layers in the stratigraphic column.

But look out beyond the big crater WNW of Victoria - there are other features beyond it (plus various cobbles en route, no doubt). A cluster of small fresh impact craters (probably secondaries, and so maybe accompanied by exotic ejecta), and eventually a spectacular crater that looks more promising than Victoria as a possible long term goal. So there's a longer term goal, and intermediate steps with a possibility of new exposures. There's no way I'd want to go back to Erebus.

Phil

Is anyone else having trouble getting the latest Exploatorium update to load onto Midnight Mars Browser?

yes.

I think the team is looking for these...cobbles... (sol 658?)

Click to view attachment