QUOTE (elakdawalla @ Aug 28 2010, 11:24 AM) 
...Two Diagrams of Opportunity's elevation vs traverse...
Centsworth_II
This discussion seem to have missed the discussion and answer posted by Emily in the Distant Vistas thread.
Full Version: From Cambridge Bay to the "parking lot"
Centsworth_II
This discussion seem to have missed the discussion and answer posted by Emily in the Distant Vistas thread.
QUOTE (Floyd @ Sep 5 2010, 08:17 AM)
This discussion seem to have missed the discussion and answer posted by Emily in the Distant Vistas thread.
Right. This graph that Emily posted shows about 800 meters straight line horizontal distance between Santa Maria and where the elevation again matches that at the bottom of Victoria. (I've indicated this in green.)
Edit: Although if you take the elevation of Victoria's bottom
as being -1450 rather than -1440 as indicated in the table, the straight line distance is more like 1900 meters. Click to view attachment
2353 looks like a driving sol. I wonder if this is the +100m drive mentioned on Scott Maxwell's twitter. If it is 100m, it will cut 1% off the distance to Endeavour in a single sol!
To close the loop, this is a screen grab of one of the maps I used to determine the elevation at the bottom of Victoria. It is a contour map derived from a Hirise DEM. It is one of several files I plucked from a NASA server, somewhere. The lowest contour is -1450 m.
Click to view attachment
Of course, the actual bedrock beneath Victoria's bottom will be some distance below the infilling dunes.
Click to view attachment
Of course, the actual bedrock beneath Victoria's bottom will be some distance below the infilling dunes.
Thanks for the debate regarding the elevation where we are at now. I've also noticed one thing about this area compared to the area before Victoria Crater. Where have all the mini craters gone? The ones we saw on the dunes that were a foot wide?
I recall seeing a very small one in a ripple just a few sols ago, although I would never be able to find it again.
QUOTE (SFJCody @ Sep 6 2010, 03:05 AM)
2353 looks like a driving sol. I wonder if this is the +100m drive mentioned on Scott Maxwell's twitter. If it is 100m, it will cut 1% off the distance to Endeavour in a single sol!
The drive was executed but it wasn't 100m. Actually it was ... 110m!!!
Pedal to the metal!
Go Oppy go!!! 
Hey slow down team or we'll miss our exit.
That's incredible. I'm pretty sure Oppy drove further than I walked today.
Of course, I probably ate more BBQ than Oppy. Probably.
Of course, I probably ate more BBQ than Oppy. Probably.
Wow! Fantastic progress. These sorts of drives may become more the norm than the exception as the terrain improves, without those pesky ripples to "freak out" the rover.
We are now east of Cape Agulhas. The last time Oppy was this far east was on sol 1186.
(Syrinx: that was one of the funnier things I've read in a while.)
We are now east of Cape Agulhas. The last time Oppy was this far east was on sol 1186.
(Syrinx: that was one of the funnier things I've read in a while.)
110 meter??? WoW Keep Going Oppy.
From Maxwell:
QUOTE
About 110 meters on Opportunity's last drive! Need to check wheel currents, but look for that and greater distances to become normal. Zoom!
If no one said it yet, I say it now and loud: "Are were there yet ! Are were there yet ! "
QUOTE (SFJCody @ Aug 12 2010, 05:43 AM)
I'll need to make an update to that [background map] soon. How long have I got?
QUOTE (ElkGroveDan @ Aug 12 2010, 07:45 AM)
You've got about a year before we are off the present image
I think you won't have that much time. Until the end of the year, perhaps.
Playing around with Goggle Earth I found what looks like another contact layer similar to Cambridge Bay right in the planned path. My 2cents that we will stop for a few sols right there next week.
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment
QUOTE (Tesheiner @ Sep 8 2010, 05:48 AM)
I think you won't have that much time. Until the end of the year, perhaps.
You may be right. They're driving again on 2355... I guess the wheel currents are behaving themselves.
QUOTE (SFJCody @ Sep 8 2010, 08:05 AM)
I guess the wheel currents are behaving themselves.
I hope so; it would be great to hear something from tweeter.
Meanwhile, here's a polar view of the current site made from the navcams from sols 2353 and 2354. Bedrock everywhere.
Click to view attachment
Sol 2353 Drive Direction Mosaic
James
James
Interesting tweet from Scott Maxwell about 4 hours ago;
"We're past the halfway mark to Endeavour!"
Go Oppy!
Neil
"We're past the halfway mark to Endeavour!"
Go Oppy!
Neil
Why has the clock on the MER website become so out of sync?
Interesting trivia from Maxwell:
QUOTE
This past weekend's drive was longest backward drive ever. (Not longest *drive*, but longest *backward*.) Yesterday's was second-longest.
Show offs. Next they'll say they did it with one arm stowed behind her back.
A space dot com article marking the halfway point to Endeavour had a couple of interesting points:
This brings back the topography issue -- assuming there were large bodies of water, would the elevation at the rim of Endeavour be a 'sea level' towards which Oppy is gradually descending?
The article then raises a troubling point that seems incorrect:
I thought it just had a voltage spike in Victoria?
QUOTE
NASA scientists are keen for the rover to reach Endeavour. Last year, the agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft detected clay deposits on the crater's rim. Clay-bearing rocks are a strong indication of the past presence of water, which is necessary for life as we know it.
"They're a kind of mineralogical marker bed for places with biological potential," Golombek told SPACE.com. "So that's our ultimate goal, to get to them."
In fact, NASA's next Mars rover, the car-sized Curiosity, will prioritize looking at clays. The rover is scheduled to launch in November 2011 and land on Mars in August 2012. All of its potential landing sites sport clays similar to those found on Endeavour's rim, Golombek said.
"They're a kind of mineralogical marker bed for places with biological potential," Golombek told SPACE.com. "So that's our ultimate goal, to get to them."
In fact, NASA's next Mars rover, the car-sized Curiosity, will prioritize looking at clays. The rover is scheduled to launch in November 2011 and land on Mars in August 2012. All of its potential landing sites sport clays similar to those found on Endeavour's rim, Golombek said.
This brings back the topography issue -- assuming there were large bodies of water, would the elevation at the rim of Endeavour be a 'sea level' towards which Oppy is gradually descending?
The article then raises a troubling point that seems incorrect:
QUOTE
"On a really good day, we can go about 100 meters [330 feet]," Golombek said. "A short day is maybe half of that."
Still, there's no reason to think Opportunity won't make it, he said. The rover is in pretty good shape, besides a broken right front wheel that doesn't turn. For that reason, engineers are driving it backward, but that shouldn't pose a problem.
Still, there's no reason to think Opportunity won't make it, he said. The rover is in pretty good shape, besides a broken right front wheel that doesn't turn. For that reason, engineers are driving it backward, but that shouldn't pose a problem.
I thought it just had a voltage spike in Victoria?
The wheel rotates on its axle just fine, however, it cannot be steered.
It doesn't "turn" in the steering sense, right? It rolls.
It can drive, but it can not be turned for steering. They have seen slightly elevated currents on it for years - they just need to keep an eye on it and not do anything that makes that situation worse.
With the commitment to backward driving, it will be interesting to see if the LR wheel (the new RF wheel) develops elevated currents at some point. And then what do they do?
Start break dancing!
Seriouserly, thanks for the refresher on the wheel issue. So, if they stop and roll around a site for science reasons, that could be a point when a stiff wheel might cause a bit of a drag on the process.
Seriouserly, thanks for the refresher on the wheel issue. So, if they stop and roll around a site for science reasons, that could be a point when a stiff wheel might cause a bit of a drag on the process.
There were no nav/pancams after yestersol's drive but they were shot today. This is not usual but in this case I think it was due to lack of time since the drive ended close to the UHF uplink time and if the mosaics were taken the uplink window would be lost.
Here's the navcam mosaic shot on sol 2356 in polar view. I used it to update the last plot in the route map.
Click to view attachment
Here's the navcam mosaic shot on sol 2356 in polar view. I used it to update the last plot in the route map.
Click to view attachment
Says here that the "second longest backward drive ever" was 105 meters. Backward autonav has been applied eight times now for a total of about 158 meters. Not bad! Distances driven in excess of 70 meters (approximate): 7, 10, 11, 15, 16, 23, 35, 41.
QUOTE (NW71 @ Sep 8 2010, 09:30 PM)
"We're past the halfway mark to Endeavour!"
Awesome! Go Oppy!
ok..newbie question involving google mars..any way of adding some higher resolution pictures so when you zoom in you can see the terrain better?
jb
jb
Read backwards and you'll find out how to do it - but maybe this needs to be in a little FAQ at the top of the forum!
Phil
Phil
QUOTE (Poolio @ Sep 10 2010, 01:03 PM)
Says here that the "second longest backward drive ever" was 105 meters.
I don't see any reference to the second longest backward drive at that link.
That was actually on Scotts Tweet Sept 8th
"This past weekend's drive was longest backward drive ever. (Not longest *drive*, but longest *backward*.) Yesterday's was second-longest"
"This past weekend's drive was longest backward drive ever. (Not longest *drive*, but longest *backward*.) Yesterday's was second-longest"
QUOTE (jabe @ Sep 10 2010, 03:21 PM)
ok..newbie question involving google mars..any way of adding some higher resolution pictures so when you zoom in you can see the terrain better?
jb
jb
The instructions to get them are on the route map itself. Just click on the map name on the left toolbar.
Click to view attachment
Scott Maxwell was kind enough to answer some questions for me for a post on my "Road to Endeavour" blog, if anyone wants a look...
http://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/halfway
http://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/halfway
I don't see any signs of Oppy doing the multiple turns in place we have seen before during backward autonav. Could this be a 110 meter blind drive made possible by the shorter ripples?
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P1907R0M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P1907R0M1.JPG
QUOTE (Tesheiner @ Sep 10 2010, 03:29 PM)
The instructions to get them are on the route map itself. Just click on the map name on the left toolbar.
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment
Thanks..looked everywhere..well almost ..where to find the info..
the suggestion to "stickie" it at the top of a forum would be helpful..it was an easy thing to do when you knew where to look
thanks for the map updates..
jb
QUOTE (Stu @ Sep 10 2010, 05:37 PM)
Scott Maxwell was kind enough to answer some questions for me for a post on my "Road to Endeavour" blog, if anyone wants a look...
Thanks Stu (and Scott) - really enjoy your "road to endeavour" blog.
Neil
I've been lurking here for quite a while, & thought it about time I said Thanks to all of you regulars for the really good job of making the trip into a veritable odyssey. I'm astounded by the photo montages.
Thank you all
Mike
Thank you all
Mike
Looking south from the current (2358) location, we get our first good view of the vast stretches of bedrock we're now entering:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol2358
I don't recall another view like this with bedrock stretching almost to the horizon. Quite a change from the sea of dunes.
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol2358
I don't recall another view like this with bedrock stretching almost to the horizon. Quite a change from the sea of dunes.
Yes, quite a change, Fred! You're right, I don't think we've ever seen so much exposed rock at once.
Phil
Phil
Thanks for such an educational and interesting forum. The daily updates are interesting to follow. When I go to the MER website and look at the downloaded images are these at the beginning of the drive on that sol or at the end of the drive.
Keep up the great work!
Keep up the great work!
Usually each drive is followed by a navcam panorama and "drive direction" pancams. Sometimes images are also taken before the drive. You can tell by comparing the time in the filename with the time of the hazcams, which are normally taken immediately after the drive.
They can be either, and can be even during the sols drive. Normally images like the navcam and drive direction mosaics are taken after a drive however sometimes they are be taken on the next sol if there is not enough time on the drive sol.
Use: http://www.greuti.ch/oppy/html/filenames_ltst.htm to decode the image filenames with will give you the local time that they were taken (LTST). Drives are usually in the early afternoon so post drive imaging will normally be around 15h - 16h.
Use: http://www.greuti.ch/oppy/html/filenames_ltst.htm to decode the image filenames with will give you the local time that they were taken (LTST). Drives are usually in the early afternoon so post drive imaging will normally be around 15h - 16h.
QUOTE (alan @ Sep 10 2010, 05:58 PM)
I don't see any signs of Oppy doing the multiple turns in place we have seen before during backward autonav. Could this be a 110 meter blind drive made possible by the shorter ripples?
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P1907R0M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P1907R0M1.JPG
Perhaps Maxwell's new comments explain this:
QUOTE
Over the weekend, we did a 105m drive that tested another approach to hazard-avoidance driving (in last 5m). More extensive test Wednesday.
QUOTE
This would use the RHAZ for hazard-avoidance driving. Didn't work on the plains -- too featureless -- but might work well on this outcrop.
QUOTE
If using RHAZ works, we can do true autonav and should be able to extend drive distances. My current goal is 140m/sol -- doubling previous.
QUOTE
Over the weekend, we did a 105m drive that tested another approach to hazard-avoidance driving (in last 5m). More extensive test Wednesday.
2361 will be another drive sol. Will it break the backwards driving record?
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.