The rest of us have driver's licenses, Stu has a poetic license.

So will it be the West Spur Route by Mike, or Rui's Route (west, then south)?
Only time will tell.

You're right Shaka, and I just renewed my poetic license too. Cost a small fortune, and I had to have a new photo taken, but it's good through 2012 now, so it should see me through MSL's first few years of driving.

What country issue such a license?

Narnia.

Ah, he's too damn modest.

Stu has an unlimited poetic license from many countries, and the most important of these is the Country Of The Blind; he is their only light, and rightly treasured.

Another sol, another 127m WSW...

Sigh, just that much more distance to travel in the right direction.

It looks like it might have been longer, except the rover took a little detour (or zig-zag) in the middle of the drive. I'd love to know why, but for that we must wait...

At least it looks like she drove until late into the afternoon.

A little west-facing Sol 1687 QuickTime VR (1.5 MB)

You don't know why?!?
It's because she found Stu's sign in the middle of the plains.

This takes me back...
The Return of the Little Dune Dents!
It's been so long...did they ever figure out what they were, I can't remember?!
Click to view attachment

Meanwhile, over at Gusev Crater...!!!

And the classic equirectangular pan

... and the classic route map update too.

Just checked the tracking info and today is NOT a driving sol, probably because yesterday pictures were downlinked too late for panning the next move.

I see what they're doing ( I think ) - heading far enough west whilst on good ground so that we can run south toward some etched terrain, running between dunes on the way, instead of hitting any side on.

Doug

3D view of part of the scene here, if anyone wants a look...

There's something very poetic about the way these ripples stretch into the horizon.
They're showing the way to Endeavour
Magnificent desolation, once again

They decided that they were micro craters. This is the smallest yet.

I'm somehow pleased...comparing your latest map with my Valentine's delirium looks like finally I was able to get one direction right along this mission...
(Sorry for the low definition of my map but I've deleted the original...)
Click to view attachment
See how I, through my fantastic precognitive powers, nailed the place where we would left Victoria?...

Well, I guess if you consider being a good 20 meters off "nailing it"...

What are 20 meters on a 12kms trek?...

Stu? Stu? Where did you go? I was going to remind you to check the dates.

Posted in error, deleted in embarrassment

Great quote as usual, Stu; you may have described my entire life quite concisely!

Onwards to Endeavour! If Oppy is able to manage 100 metres a day, how fast could it realistically get to the edge of Endeavour? 1 year, 2 years or more?

Oppy's position based on Eduardo Tesheiner's Opportunity Route Map and the UMSF terrain models are posted here.

Looks almost like a straight line to the W Spur route entrance point.
(Maybe the Sol 1687 zig-zag was caused by Rui's super-secret mental powers acting on Oppy?)

-Mike

Yes, JM, the West Spur route is looking like a good bet at this point. The major difference in Rui's Route is that it ignores your red zone and runs straight down the middle of the etched terrain (exposed bedrock), midway between your West Spur and SW passages. Rui takes the geologists' preferences to heart and fearlessly confronts the big ripples. Beyond the red zone he continues in a more or less southerly route, whereas you loop back far to the east.
Which choice will Oppy make?
The tension is palpable.

Next move is planned for sol 1691 (Sunday) and the post-drive images are pointed due south.

If it's another 100 and something meters drive that will put Oppy on one third of the timeline my inner glowing oracle pointed as the requested for it to accomplish the first leg of the journey, 20 days.
If my clearvoyant batteries don't run out, see you at Endeavour on February 8, 2010...

Why on my 56th birthday ?

Anyone else notice how Oppy looks like the planchette of a Ouija board out there?

(Channelling secret mental powers to the W..to the W....to the W...)

I'm not a rover expert, but from the past experience with the Trek from Endurance to Victoria, I would say that a realistic estimate for Oppy's average "full speed progress" considering weekends, restricted sols etc. would be approximately 400 meters per week or about one and a half kilometers per month.
However, this "full speed" estimate does not include: 1. possible science stops and 2. unforseen incidents (stuck in dune, Odysee dropouts etc. )
So add another safety factor of two or so and we would have somwhere between 500 to 1000 meters per month on avareage which would result in an optimistic estimate of about 16 months for the whole Trek to Endevaour ...

Looks like 1693 will be another driving sol.

200 m ahead, back to the dunes on Sol 1691 :

That will endanger my estimative...but good to see that, somehow, Oppy will cross "my" path 8 months after dreaming of it...
Click to view attachment

And from Ant103's image looks like the tide is rising...

Don't go there. Don't start with a number and multiply it by numbers of days.

It
Never
Works

By that maths, Endurance to Victoria should have been <6 months. It was nearly two years. Just take it as it comes, step by step.

Doug

Beautiful panorma, Ant !

this martian landscape never ceases to amaze me in its subtleness of change: how, for example the character of the dunes changes ever so slightly but distinctly only some hundreds of meters apart: for example, this "feathering" of the dune crests now looks even more pronounced and beatuiful than ever before ...

What an exciting adventure we have the privileg of taking part in !

Perhaps there is no basis for such fear, but those differences also worry me. They look like ripples we have driven safely before, but what if they turn at some point into soft, yielding ripples that can't be driven on anywhere, even in the troughs? I certainly feel more at ease when they are on one of the "highways". You know that safe, unyielding rock is near at hand,... er, wheel.

Thanks Nirgal. It's a privilege, I agree. And I am constantly proud to work on pictures taken yestarday and sometimes today ON MARS! Great times we are living now .

The drive direction, taken on the same sol :

> The drive direction, taken on the same sol

We should call it "sailing direction", perhaps.

"sailing direction"

An excellent transition to my next picture, from the black & white pan. I've named it "A Sea Of Sand"

Let's even call it the "Red Sea of Sand of Meridianii"

This is the horizon part of Ant103's panorama of the drive direction, with a bit of vertical stretching. A factor of ten. It shows that smooth patch off to the left - east - and the bigger drifts ahead and to the right. Looks like the outcrop area is slightly elevated. This doesn't really look ideal to me. I think the immediate drive might be in this direction, but I would expect a turn to the west in a while to head towards that smoother route.

Phil

Click to view attachment

Good work Ant & Phil!

> I think the immediate drive might be in this direction, but I would expect a turn to the west in a while to head towards that smoother route.

To the west or to the left - east?
I'm a bit puzzled by the current choice of route. There're smooth areas both to the west (W spur) and to the east (SW corridor) of the current position but everything, including today's planned post-drive images, indicates they are heading right to this big patch of bedrock due south.

Either direction might work but I intended to say what I did say - right - or west, as I indicated on a map in the other thread.

Phil

http://planetary.org/blog/

Quote: "Opportunity was headed for an area where the north-south dunes of Meridiani Planum were spread thinly over exposed bedrock, a landscape that would provide Opportunity with a "highway" southward on its journey toward Endeavour crater."

Don't read more into my update than is there -- that's no more than a summary of what appears to be the consensus view on this forum! You guys are my best "source" for MER news, as you all follow it much more closely than I do. I think we all agree that the direction of Opportunity's drive is taking it toward more driveable terrain -- the debates here are about exactly which direction it's headed.

I'm sure there will be more informed detail forthcoming this weekend when Salley will post her usual update.

--Emily

Why should you be puzzled when, apparently, the rover is heading towards bedrock? doesn't that mean safer drives? At least that was what I had in mind when marking my path, aiming whenever possible to patches of solid ground and not smooth dunes...but hey...what do I know?...

Unfortunately, in this area the bedrock outcrops have the largest drifts scattered across them. So they are not a 'highway' as they were near Erebus.

Phil

Thinking the same thing, Phil... look like big dunes wandering the bedrock road ahead... we shall see .....

Looking at those sand sea vistas... I think of Arthur C. Clarke's "The Sands of Mars"... wouldn't we all love to be trotting along there in person... listening to the lonely whistle of wind....

Craig

I can't quite yet imagine what the wind would sound like...