Rotten, squishy blueberries?
I prefer mine fresh and firm.

How about dusty, crusty BBs instead? They look coated to me.

I don't believe those are BB's at all. More like clumped particles. Probably some kind of electrostatic cohesion.

That's three diagnoses. Any more?

Westward ho!
http://nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportu...G6P1214R0M1.JPG

OK, maybe I'm reading too much into this little jog.

A 7m drive towards a nearby outcrop. That's the only reading I will do.

From the latest Oppy update:

I would've thought you'd need a pretty severe seismic event to show up on the accelerometers. Has this been tried before?

The latest JPL route map indicates that an extension of 2.8 km has been added to the total odometry to reach Endeavour. Instead of 16.2 km, the target is now 19.0 km. I expect this means that they have settled on the westward route.

Or they're planning on an awful lot of zig-zagging on the east route.

Good catch, Poolio!

That is correct. The route has been named "pink route".

Paolo

Is there an official map for the proposed pink route?

Yes there is, but I will let Tim Parker talk about it.

Paolo

First I've heard of it. I proposed giving it a try some time back (years ago, I think) and as I recall no one thought it was feasible. I'm glad to hear that they're trying. Seems like good thing to do when parked on bedrock.

It sounds like a fascinating experiment. Do we have any specs on the accelerometer/s involved?

From the latest status report:


We have already reached it. I'm waiting for visual confirmation but the mobility data tells us today's drive was aprox. 60m, placing Opportunity on solid rock.

very odd (blueberry?) dune formation here

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...EZP2370L5M1.JPG

I have no suggestions, but it looks "odd" to me also.

To put the picture into context, here's the corresponding navcam shot:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...EZP0705L0M1.JPG

Could that be a depression instead of a dune? In the navcam it looks like there are a few more to the right and up a bit....

But then again, I always have the crater/dome problem when looking at orbital pics.

I'd be happy to talk about it, though I'd like to be sure that the rest of the team, particularly Steve, is okay with it being posted to the public. The primary reason it might not be, if I have this right, is so as not to give the impression that we're bound to a particular path - that we wouldn't be flexible if we found something unexpected (either about the terrain or the vehicle).

But yes, the engineers asked us to look into a westward route around the purgatories. I had, some time ago (like many of you), but at the time I think we all thought that the bigger concern was number of wheel rotations, not total mileage. Now, it looks like time is a bigger factor, and projections are that even though this is a longer drive, it's potentially simpler and thus less time-consuming than going through the "Isthmus".

-Tim.

I would hope that releasing it as a possible route would cover you. Crossing fingers now.

Edit: Just to be clear, I'm using "you" in the plural sense, not suggesting that you (singular) should do anything other than what the team decides.

Tim, I did not mean to put you in the hot spot. This is exactly what I meant to say. We don't want to get into trouble for releasing information!

Paolo

No worries Paolo. I don't think we'd get in trouble for releasing information, just if we mean one thing and had it misinterpreted, is all.

Does that make any sense?

See you on Mars!

-Tim.

Don't worry, you guys. All hard-core UMSFers are bound by a code of silence; we won't blab!

It's not like this site was on the Internet, much less the #1 hit on Google for its topic or anything...oh, wait...

Well, that's not entirely true. You pretty much have to type in "unmanned spaceflight" to have any chance of Google returning UMSF.com on the first page of results. So really, this is a pretty obscure place. Billions upon billions of people in the world are not even aware of the existence of UMSF so if you want to release some inside info and still keep it from the masses, I think this is the place to do it. Seriously, maybe 20 people, 30 tops, read this forum. Go ahead, spill the beans.

You just need one JPLer tattling and you are in trouble. Happened to me, don't want to have Tim in the same spot.

Paolo

RoverDriver.... A question:
Is it possible to put the brakes on the RF wheel only and still drive?
Would it be possible to still make progress while effectively resting the wheel (trenching) or would the currents still be affected?

Well, that's not entirely true. Some statistics for you. Google Analytics (CPanel Analog Stats)

May, the last complete month, saw 26,521 (43,394) unique visitors, making 58,691 (88,506) visits, and viewing 273,619 (516,096) pages. Of those visits, google report 20.8% came from search engine results.

It's also on the first google page for things such as
meteor hitting earth
what colour is uranus
europa lander
fastest spacecraft
google mars 3d
what happened to mars pathfinder
phobos grunt
saturn map
hirise 3d
hirise dem
and...
rover route map

nprev, brian (and others).... Tim and Paolo (and others) are going way over and above the call of duty in giving us as much time as they do, and sharing as much information as they do. Please don't encourage, pressure or egg them on in providing anything more than they feel is appropriate.

To be clear, I was just teasing them a bit, but it's a point well taken, Doug.

I would absolutely never encourage any of the esteemed (and greatly appreciated) professional forum members who are kind enough to share their always fascinating insights here to disclose anything that might compromise their professional ethics or that would endanger their careers, or in any way harm or even embarrass their programs or colleagues. I fully understand and support their need for discretion, and certainly hope that others feel the same way.

[EDIT] Should also point out that Brian was being facetious as well. We both elliptically alluded to the fact that UMSF is a (perhaps the) Google hotspot for all searches related to the cutting edge of the planetary sciences these days, and therefore most certainly NOT the place to post anything best left confidential in the field!

Bottom line: I pulled a leg, Brian came along & helped me, and between us it came off in our hands! My apologies to all for instigating this, and there was no harm intended. Will be more careful in the future. [/EDIT]

The vehicles do not have real brakes but the gear ratio between the wheel and motor is so high that when the motor is not energized the wheel is essentially unmovable. In case anyone missed it, there is experimental evidence of this fact on the other side of the planet :-P. We can control each individual actuator, so yes we can simply turn off the RF wheel and drive. Regarding how effective that is, this largely depends on the soil properties (sand vs. bedrock) and slope. One of the reasons we chose to drive around the area of Purgatoids is to have more options in case we are forced to disable the RF wheel. Path control with 5 active wheels and one anchor is more difficult, besides being slower, and it would make our lives more difficult being in an area where there are narrow passages or steep slopes. I would probably lose what is left of my hair.

Paolo

Yes, what nprev said. Sorry as well.

Can you use just any one wheel or must multiple wheels be used on the vehicle?

The W route makes sense in terms of putting an ageing machine (sorry Oppy!) under min stress for max time. Instead of grinding through/slipping over nasty purgatroidish type dunes the old girl (apologies again!) can keep trundling ( ) along for a long long time. I've tried it with old cars. It tends to work!

We can command any combination of wheels. Same thing for steering actuators.

Paolo

So...is there a pic of the west route available to the public ?

It looks like something hit the surface at a nearly horizontal angle and pushed all the blueberries off the bare spot into a mound. Maybe it was a chunk of rock from a meteorite impact nearby?

Those features are curious. They, and related features have been debated ad infinitum in this forum in in the past. Unfortunately, I don't believe we have ever come to a consensus regarding their origin. I don't recall Opportunity's handlers commanding the rover to dig into them or to otherwise study them with the tools available on the rover.

All I can guess is that these structures are either well understood by the scientists directing the mission, or that such observations are of a low priority to the team.

I believe the "something" that hit the surface was wind. As already noted by lyford, there seem to be other examples of the same phenomenon which I've circled in this crop of the navcam image. I think that a particular combination of substrate, surface material, and wind pattern is the cause.

Click to view attachment

Either Oppy's clearing out some old pics or she had a helluva drive backwards overnight...

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...R9P0694L0M2.JPG

"Robot dreams" maybe?

Yeah, I can just imagine Oppy trundling along, daydreaming to herself...

I miss Victoria Crater. There was cool stuff to see there. Those high cliffs... all the pretty-shaped rocks... those dust ripples in the crater's bottom... Now what do I get? Dust dunes as far as the navcam can see... same old same old, sol after sol... I'm sick of it... bored, bored, bored, bored, bored...

(someone give Doug a glass of water, I think I hear him choking! )

Those pictures are pretty interesting. It reminds us how close she went to the edges. A testament to the confidence of the Rover Drivers and thier management.

Just out of curiosity, how much longer is Oppy planning to stay at the current rest stop?

This update notes that the plan was to position the rover on the outcrop to "rest the mobility system over the coming holiday". So I'm guessing that the earliest we'll see movement is mid-week.

Or a bit longer, maybe. I see an MB integration in the meantime.

01933::p1131::04::2::0::2::0::0::4::f_haz_idd_mb_doc_512x512x1bpp_vhigh

BTW, a bit of archeology of ancient mesopotamia is also planned.

01934::p2375::20::16::0::0::16::2::34::pancam_humbaba_L7R1
01934::p2376::20::10::0::0::10::2::22::pancam_gilgamesh_L7R1
01934::p2377::20::6::0::0::6::2::14::pancam_enkidu_L7R1

EXCESS QUOTING REMOVED

Zoiks! A Mössbauer spectrometer soak time is up to what, 12-14 days? I realize it's excellent to get a series of readings as the mission progresses across the terrain, so I'll try to be patient. At least the wheel gets a good rest too, and hopefully the driving will get a bit easier soon.

FWIW, Opportunity might be finishing this science stop and leaving the area today, sol 1942, taking the western route.

01942::p1212::09::2::0::0::2::0::4::front_haz_ultimate_2_bpp_pri15
01942::p1312::07::2::0::0::2::0::4::rear_haz_ultimate_2_bpp_pri15
01942::p1655::01::10::0::0::10::0::20::navcam_5x1_az_90_1_bpp
01942::p1962::14::10::0::0::10::0::20::navcam_5x1_az_270_3_bpp_bin_17_42
01942::p2381::20::12::0::0::12::2::26::pancam_drive_direction_4x1_L6R12

Is Endeavour still a realistic target? With the limited driving per sol, the problematic wheel/possible wheel failure and the lengthy stops to rest it, and also the new route adding 2 or 3 KM? Is there anything else around that might make a realistic target? Or are we now too committed to Endeavour to get to another target?

There's a freshish big crater 8.7km WNW and a big (but highly eroded) crater 5.7km south but both look like they would just be more of the same old Meridiani sandstone. Endeavour is the only thing around for miles that might show something different.