Have a look to this mosaic; it will probably be one of the lasts to include Victoria on sight.
Click to view attachment
Sol 1983 was driving day, about 47m SSW. And you know what? Like on many previous driving sols, "post-drive" images were taken (navcams here) including a pancam mosaic called "drive_dir" and that one is NOT headed towards the next capes but to the SOUTH (-160º actually).

So, I would say that we are leaving Victoria for good!

Steve's Pan Position C is not out of the question yet.

I would bet a dinner.



This SSW figure is very VERY consistent with the heading of the "drive direction" pancam mosaic.
And one of the "exits" (referring to the terrain analysis maps) from Victoria's vicinity is about on that heading.

Either those are not the "ultimate" images or something happened, as the plan was for a much longer drive...maybe even a record length one. Well, time will tell!

Airbag

Bye Bye Victoria - it was nice to see you but I've got to be going...

Phil

Click to view attachment

> Either those are not the "ultimate" images ...
They are.

Sol 1683 QuickTime VR (3.5 MB)

Anaglyph and - I think - appropriate quote to go with it...

Nice. Alternatively you could have used the lyrics to the theme tune from that early 90s TV show about the mountie.

SING ALONG!

[UMSFers:]
There's a sad sort of leaving Victoria, its capes and cliffs
And a soup dragon too
And down here on Earth an insignificant little cookie
Is popping out to say "cuckoo"
[UMSFers:]
Cuckoo, cuckoo

Regretfully they tell us Cuckoo, cuckoo
But firmly they compel us Cuckoo, cuckoo
To say goodbye . . .
[Doug:]
Cuckoo!
[UMSFers:]
. . . to you

[UMSFers:]
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night
[Opportunity:]
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight

[UMSFers:]
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu
[Opportunity:]
Adieu, adieu, to beacon, Verde and Pigafetta too

[UMSFers:]
So long, farewell, au revoir, auf wiedersehen
[Opportunity:]
I'd like to stay and taste one more sulfate

[UMSFers:]
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
[Opportunity:]
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye -- Goodbye!

I'm glad to go, I cannot tell a lie

I've stucked, I've fled, I freely roll, I rove!

The road is long, Endeavour is at sight

[Children:]
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

[Oppy and UMSFers:]
Goodbye!

"Nice. Alternatively you could have used the lyrics to the theme tune from that early 90s TV show about the mountie."

Yessss... "I'm an anaglyph and I'm all right,
I'm two-dimensional all day and 3D at night"

Phil

So, Rui -- "The crater's alive with the sound of music"?

Or "How do you stop a rover like our Oppy?"

Or even "Carbonates, carbonates, our instruments cannot see them..."



-the other Doug

...well done, esteemed Special Cookie Monster! Your creativity indeed is boundless...

I also bet a dinner that even once we'll arrive at Endeavour, most of us will try to find Victoria in the pancam shots

This is the pancam mosaic of drive direction images from the latest position. I have stretched it vertically to show near-horizon detail more clearly. Clearly visible at the middle is a smooth patch, with large drifts to its right (west in this south-looking view). I am having trouble matching individual features to HiRISE, but it looks like the smooth area must be the western one of the three 'exits'. That's my preferred exit anyway so I hope they use it!

Phil

Click to view attachment

Well spotted Phil.

I've made a polar image of the 1683 drive direction images and overlaid it onto my latest driveability image (considerably higher resolution than anything I've posted on UMSF so far) showing how the images point straight at the prominent SSW 'ray' (South is at the top, pancams are rotated using tracking data, position is approximately Tesheiner's route map position)

In the second image I've pointed out a few features that I have (very tentatively) matched up.

Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

James

The goodbye to Victoria. In french, we say "adieu" but there is no word in english like this because we traduce good-bye as "au revoir". But we will never return back to Victoria.

Adieu Victoria


So, let write a new page of mars exploration history .

It's sad to say farewell to Victoria; but it's a happy day too. Opportunity's destination is has now been officially named Endeavour. Onward!

--Emily

Adios, au revoir, auf weidersehen.....

(Couldn't resist!)

Ade, mein liebes Schätzelein

Okay, hands up... who wants to go back...?

Victory

You bet...in a nice, flexible suit with a hard helmet, with a sturdy rock-pick and a digital hand-lens with a fat uplink! I'd take that thing apart layer by layer just to see what could be found (drooool....)

(Sorry; my passions overcome me! Nice work, Stu!)

Is this a driving sol?

According to the imaging plan, yessss!!!

It's been a long time since I last worked with the tracking data - but if I've got this right, it looks like tosols drive was about 130m WSW (maybe a little more as the site ID was reset at the end) - that is directly away from Victoria.

Goodbye Victoria - Onwards!

James

Yup, at least 130m!

> maybe a little more as the site ID was reset at the end
Based in the time between the latest reading and the "0" of the new site I believe they are the same.

Ooooh! Anyone got an estimated position? I think we're on all five Terrain models now.

-Mike

Leaving the safety of the port for one more discovery saga...simply amazing!

Robert Frost: The Road Not Taken (1915)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

EDITED: I think I see where we're headed...I think...to catch solid ground as soon as possible, and it looks likes there are at least two eroded rims that way...I like it!

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P1311R0M1.JPG
Hmmm, moving south-west

Hmmm...why?
Can anyone spot any likely objective along this track? Perhaps beyond Vicky's apron. Tesh?

Movie of the Sol 1686 drive - QuickTime, 3.3 MB. This is (obviously) greatly time-compressed. It's based on the tracking data; I'm not really positive how completely accurate that makes it. The view direction is just south of west.

Because, if you look at the route finding thread, the challenge of the next few months is to get thru the dune field that extends from about 1km to about 2km south of Endurance. If we can stay on 100m/sol terrain, it's a few months. If we get into dune-land, it's a year or more. So heading SE, to one of a couple of 'out' routes thru that dune field, is the fastest way to make good progress.

Doug

First pics on Exploratorium of the beggining of the verrry long trek (Sol 1686 partial view, I think there are other images to complete this pan).
So, back to flat and sandy landscapes of Merdiani

Got a telegraphic mail from Steve from which I've extracted the following mantra...:

"We're outta here."
"We'll get there."

I assume you meant SW at this point. Meaning the drivers have opted for a route like Juramike's West Spur or South West Passage.
A run around west of the main dune field, accepting a longer route in exchange for longer daily progress. I guess the geologists have decided to forgo scientific targets inside the dune field, e.g. the exposed bedrock. Perhaps there is not such a big difference from what was studied in VC. O.K.

Sorry - yeah - SW.

Hit it!
Click to view attachment

Movie of the Sol 1686 drive...
Warp factor one Mr Sulu!

SS: "We're outta here!"
That's an understatement and a half.

Yeah, data points are sparse at the beginning of the drive, so it does indeed look like it's flying. Plus I'm pretty sure the rovers never go that fast

SS: "Make it so..."

Well, assuming the rover drivers are still secretly using UMSF data for their route planning, SW would seem more likely, as Juramike indicated West Spur was bad, BAD! Does the current heading point toward any particular route entry point?

I've spent the last half hour in the lotus position, trying to channel Paolo's mind, but so far I can't get through. (next I'll try the aston martin position )
So I don't know the drivers' plan. JM said the West Spur route took the longest time, but it is actually safer, if your priority is to give the red zones a wide berth. I don't think anyone official has declared what sort of maximum distances Oppy might try to cover in one day's autonomous drive. Nor would I expect them to, lest they be held to it as an expectation. 200, 300, 400 meters? I do think that if they plan to 'stretch the envelope' , they will want as clear a ground as possible. With big enough daily jumps, the West Spur could turn out to be quite fast.

While we're on this "green" zone I would expect long drives on the 100m+ range and perhaps a really long one (> 150m) but only during the weekends.

BTW, we are not on restricted sols so today is yet another driving sol. Based on yesterday and today's imaging plan I expect they'll keep the current SW (actually WSW) heading.

It sure is great to see the sandy sea once again, talk about 'deja vu'
Calm sea ahead, bigger waves await us, sooner or later, faster or slower, we'll get there (we hear'you comandante Squyres)

Next restricted sol would be on october 27th on sol 1692, so it'll be another week worth of possible each sol driving

I like that! We can be there by Christmas at 300-400 meters per sol!

I'm still confused by this direction. Hope we get some more info from the MER team soon.

SFJCody, so far it makes sense to me...

<I'm giggling>..."Too unreal?"...<I'm still giggling...>

Click to view attachment

Farewell Victoria... Endeavour beckons...

I love your work, Stu. But your sense of direction is terrible.

(Adding: It's the other way.)

It's meant to be symbolic, not accurate

Glad you like it tho.