Wauw, you are really putting the pedal to the metal on Oppy, aren't you! - Was flying debris captured like that before, since you can so comfortably identify it, or is it experience with the Earth-bound rovers at the JPL rock garden that makes you know it?

Sol 1666 panorama updated

It's great to see some trekking again and some new vistas

Paolo was being sarcastic

It made me laugh; I was almost certain that Paolo was joking. But then I had to stop and think for a moment. Yes, I'm pretty sure he's joking.

Seriously, I imagine its just a random cosmic ray hit. Right?

Got to be - it's not 'real' or it'd be in L & R.

And here's the updated Quicktime VR (now 2.5 MB)

In the new pancams we can see a couple of old friends we haven't seen in quite a while, what we called "Hoy" and "The Lump" (official names Straight and Madrid), which I've circled here:
Click to view attachment

Whenever I think about the rovers moving somehow the words "paint" and "dry" come to mind. Not all the times. Sometimes it is "grass" and "grow".

Paolo

Yeah - just be carefull if you hear Scott making jet-engine noises within 20 feet of a workstation.

Doug

Silly little question but I have to ask it. There must be a small volume up close to each camera that is not imaged by the other camera. How far does this extend in front of the cameras? Would any mid-air object within that range be so close as to be way out of focus?

Good catch, fredk! It was a long time ago, wasn't it?

The separation of the navcam "eyes" is 20 cm. The strange feature is almost at the left edge of the image. An object about 1 meter in front of the camera would be shifted about 11 degrees by parallax in the view of the right eye. This would seem to be enough to put it out of the field of view. But I agree it is most likely a cosmic ray.

Well - Navcam is a 45 deg FOV, and they're 20cm apart (pancam is 30).

So - it's a triangle about 20cm across, and projecting 10 cm forward.

Before the long treck will start, I'd like to update the file of this topic: http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...ic=2580&hl=
What I find will be usefull, and keep us less nervous, will be to add the periods of restricted sols clearly shown. But I miss the essential : a starting time and a recurence.
In case Paolo could provide me (us) with this information it'll be very ideal; if not, is there somebody that can tell me for sure when next period will start as well as the recurence?
Gracie Mille

Beautiful view from Cape Victory!
Check the latest images after the drive on sol 1668 here: http://nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportu...cam/2008-10-03/
It's a whole 360º shot but autostitch was unable to do it completely. Anyway, here's what I've got.
Click to view attachment

Edited: Added a polar projection.
Click to view attachment

Hi Tesh',
I've made the complete version using R "eye" to avoid the grey disk of dust at the top center of each frame of left camera, but it doesn't match correctly with my flatfield image.
Made with Hugin if you're curious (not very perfect : non flat horizon, shifting error).

Here's the usual Sol 1668 QuickTime VR (3 MB)

Forgive me if I'm repeating a FAQ, but in the event a new science target is reached, what is the status of Oppy's RAT and spectrometer? From what I recall, the RAT still had some life left in it, but the spectrometer was requiring soak times of more than 48 hours?

RAT is still useable, it is a pain to use it, but useable. Which spectrometer? MB, APXS, MTES?

Paolo

I meant the MB (Mossbauer) spectrometer. It seems like that is the spectrometer most often used to detect minerals like pyroxene & hematite, correct?

Thanks!

Ah, you are talking o an engineer here. I know how to place it on a rock and know it takes a LOOOONNNNNGGGGGGG time to integrate, but don't ask me what minerals it detects .

Paolo

Paolo got me there with the debris thing, good one! - I do know tho, that the rovers move excruciatingly slowly, just though that it would still be possible to squeeze some little object so much that it would go ka-poww! and splinter...

3D view of farside of VC here...

That is true. Before deciding to keep the IDD unstowed when driving, we did some tedting in the sandbox which were "interesting". I can't believe I actually got to drop the rover from 15cm on a hard surface but the IDD survived, unscathed to the event, and had it landed on a small pebble at just the right angle t would have resulted in ricocheting.

Paolo

Twitter says that the solar conjunction will be mid-nov to mid-dec and that Phoenix will be in the "wild" for 2 weeks at the deepest of this period.
I wonder if we'll have took off from Vicky before conjunction starts as well as what she'll do during these two weeks.
I must say I was caught by surprise.

VC from a new viewpoint (Sol 1668 - Right NavCam - very rough stitch!):

May be rought but it gives another perspective. Duck Bay seams already far away.

Restricted sols supposed to be finished now.
We'll probably have more activities during the following 3 weeks.

Polar projection of 360° version:

Nice work Marco.
I've put a version of my own on my new webblog.

Astro0

EDIT: Replying to Marco's post below...

"It's a lot of Photoshop work and a heap of anti-vignetting".

Thanks, Astro0... I must admit your version is by far better than mine!
How did you removed the many defects in original pictures?

Thanks, Dilo, but somehow that's a mirror-reflected image!

Yes, it's a mirror image! - but a nice view anyway.

Phil

Yes, you are very kind... is reflected, I think because I had to rewrite the PovRay routine.

now thats a crusty martian italiano pizza .. just needs sauce and a few toppings. now we got something to munch on for the long trek ahead. ken

Click to view attachment

Not very scientific, but I love your analysis

Mmmmh, pizza, arhhhh…

Hum, ahem!

So, Sol 1666 navcam view updated. It miss one frame but impossible to stitch it (no control point to find).


Edit : Sputnik in colors (Sol 1663)

Whoah. Long drive south on Sol 1673, with a Pancam drive-direction mosaic to the southeast. Nice one, RoverDriver(s).

130ish metres looking at the DDPCI's ( drive direction pancam images - it's my all new acronym )

Sweet

Here's a view to get a sense of it:

Very nice ones, Ant !

That navcam view with Oppy's shadow looming in front of 'the Abyss' is one of the most scenic compositions yet
(the pan should be even better stitcheable once the PDS IMGs are available

Cape Pillar
Click to view attachment

Is that a crater rim sticking above the horizon in the middle frame?

I'd say that's the ...er... Beacon.
Now tell us which side of the crater it's on.

and Cape Victory
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...CUP0605R0M1.JPG

No, the beacon (whichever side it is on) would be off-frame to the right. That looks like a distant crater, but I can't place it.

That's Endurance. We've been there

I'm with Shaka there, that's the Beacon

ROTFLOL