No, it's not a bug in your software. The latest batch on exploratorium just doesn't include the Oppy images we've seen last week on the JPL site.
But let's not be hasty and give them some time to update before we spam them to death over this Terrible negligence... It's called patience.

The way I read Pando's map, Oppy won't be there until Sol 397...

Were all the images below taken after Opportunity completed the latest drive? Still nothing to be seen out there...

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...86P2382L7M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...86P2382L7M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...86P2382L7M1.JPG

Can anyone say exactly where we are?

Mars One would assume about 100-150m SE of the Triplets

DOug

Op drove again on sol 396. But who knows where? Still no sign of Vostok in the rearview mirror ( the front in this case ). Vostok, The Phantom Crater...

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...D6P1315R0M1.JPG

Me thinks Vostok is a big cirkle of outcrop like the one to the right of Oppy in the picture above

Are we sure thy're even heading for Vostok anymore They have been known to change their plans. Surely something of that size would be visible by now.

Looks like they are using some of the no-drive days to free up the flash. A bunch of old images are being retrieved. They definately need room in the flash to perform longer autonav drives, especially on long stretches to the Etched Terrain, etc...

Why does it need flash to drive long distances? Does is store ALL the HazCam images or something?

Well, the autonav driving (as opposed to blind, directed drive) uses quite a bit of flash memory. The rover takes images of the terrain as it drives and creates terrain maps in memory which is then used to manuever the vehicle. There is also a need to store and transmit most of these images and terrain maps from the autonav sequence to the rover engineers for analysis.

That's one of the reasons they can't just push the "drive" button and let the rover go for the entire Sol. Blind drive can take it only as far as the rover drivers can see from the starting position. Then they have to use autonav, and that portion of the drive is limited to the flash memory allocated to the autonav.

If the flash storage limit is exceeded, it starts deleting older science data which has not yet been sent to Earth, and that is a big no-no (and it has happened in the past)...

Oppy went nowhere on sol 397. Strange, I hope nothing is broken.

Sol 396:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu:16080/mars/opp...D6P1315L0M1.JPG
Sol 397:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu:16080/mars/opp...00P1311L0M1.JPG

But some NavCam images came down. Vostok crater? :
http://qt.exploratorium.edu:16080/mars/opp...00P0683R0M1.JPG

Damn lol.......I was hoping when i got up and looked at the latest images this morning we would be at Vostok lol

At least we can see the thing now

Doug

doesnt look very exciting, I cant imagine they will spend much time here. move on and progress to Victoria! (or at least to the etched terrain)

closer
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P1211L0M1.JPG

Well looks like Oppy actually went somewhere on Sol 398... and will also creep closer to Vostok on Sol 399. The delay may actually be due to a problem with one of the instruments...

If this is indeed Vostok, at least we know now why it has been so hard to see it from a distance:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P0685L0M1.JPG

Spectacular! A 'freshly' exhumed crater! Not much to do though. What else can they do here than RAT one or two outcrop-rocks?

Why would a problem with an instrument cause a delay in driving? And when you say 'instrument', you mean one of the cameras? ( Nav, Haz, PanCam, MiniTES )?

Updated travel map:

As I expected Vostok would be nothing extraordinary. Just a cirkle of outcrop like the scattered rocks on the plains

A quick RAT and analysis of one or two rocks and we are go for the etched terrain

Well....I was wrong. It's not dust making up the rim after all

Hmmm, I wonder just how different the etched terrain will be - mostly just exposed outcrop as well? Terraced a bit? Should be a nice change of scenery at the very least....

The effect looks similiar to Vostok's edges from the obital pix; is there any info on its slope and steepness? I couldn't find any MOLA data through googling....

Looking back at Endurance and the heat shield.

You pretty much called it, Doug.

Vostok.

http://qt.exploratorium.edu:16080/mars/opp...00P0685L0M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu:16080/mars/opp...00P1214L0M1.JPG

Fascinating. Can anyone explain why the rock remains exposed, and isn't covered with sand/blueberries?

Chris

I think that deserves a mars bar

Doug

Looks like another crater in the distance, could it be the larger flatter one before Victoria or Victoria herself, or looking at it more something entirely different lol. ?

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P1785L0M1.JPG

These Vostok outcrops look pachydermally eroded (JonClarke's termonology ) just like Wopmay inside Endurance. Since we missed a detailed spectrometer analysis of Wopmay due to heavy slippage, let's have one quicky here, and head straight to the Etched Terrain southwest

That's looking WSW I think - and if you look on this image

http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/0...Ellipse_25m.gif ( Endurance is along the centre line - 3/4s the way to the east end )

You can see a crater twice the size of Victoria just outside the ellipse near the centre - it's probably the rim of that we're seing way out there

Doug

Vostok Nav

http://mer.rlproject.com/vostok_nav.jpg

If Mars ever has hippies - they'll be dancing round it naked before too long

Doug

When the rovers landed I don't think we thought for 1 min that they would travel outside of thier landing elipses. Is the well defined crater north of Victoria in the elipse Endurance crater ?

Yup - when that map was made - they didnt have MOC imagery of Endurance - and so you can see it as a low-res bit just to the right of a high res MOC bit

That image also shows how the 'etched' got eaten by Victoria

Doug

If the etched terrain is that flat, I wonder if Oppy might make it to the giant crater that pokes into the lower right of the image! If it makes it through the next winter, I think that is possible. Of course, a lot depends on just how interesting the etched terrain and Victoria are. If it is the same old same old as the rocks in Endurance, I think Oppy might travel quite a long way.

I don't think the etched terrain will be flat and easy to travel. Look at this PROTO MOC image:

http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/r10_r15/im...5/R1500822.html

To me it looks like a network of raised ( and very rough ) Vostok-like crater rims, covered with giant versions of the windripples we've seen sofar on the plains.

I can't quite make out if those small dark spots in the etched terrain are craters, the shadows of small mesas or the shadows of very large dunes. Any ideas?

I was so surprised by Vostok being THAT flat after seeing it from orbital imagery that I am curious just how jagged the terrain is. I can't quite tell in that image what is a shadow and what is an albedo feature. A few features definitely look raised, but not all. Looks like some interesting treking ahead. I think this is a good reminder that we need a high resolution SAR map of Mars....there will probably be some great discoveries awaiting us under the dust. Fortunately this terrain just pokes through.

: probably you are right... One idea for dark spots: throughs, Anatolia similar? Raise one question i hope someone (Bruce?) may respond and post interesting comments: is there any information about eventuality of "karstic like' landforms at Meridiani? Remembering Anatolia through, and other Opportunity pictures at Eagle and Endurance craters evocative for sinking/subsidence/disturbance of the outcrop rocks/soil . ..

Sorry, i mean "trough", and must perfect my english language....

I think the etched terrain will be easy to drive over. I also think the rocks will be the same as at Endurance, confirming the whole plain was once wet. Victoria will just be a larger version of Endurance. The huge crater to the bottem right looks shallow so won't be all that interesting to look at imho. Where to next ?

Well - it's going to take about six months to get to Victoria - at which point we'll be on sol 550+

Given that there was 6 months of science in visiting Endurance - I think the same can be said of Victoria

That's sol 700. More than a martian year - back into Autumn and getting on toward winter again

By then - APXS and Mossbauer integrations will take a couple of days at least - so doing science will take a lot longer.

To ask the question 'where next' - is, dare one say it, a little pre-emptive

BUT - I'd do new auto-nav code that generates much smaller data volumes and can be used for multiple sols on the trot - I'd get code in there to use MRO as a relay - I'd do a full 14 filter panorama at Victoria with the extra downlink bandwidth, and head WSW - using the new autonav to cover 700m a week Get down to a core staf f barely in double digits - get automated data onto the PDS more rapidly - and cover 3km per month minimum. My aim would be to see as many different terrain types as possible to give ground-truths for Orbital Imagery.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre...2A-A0R1_br2.jpg

To that very dark crater + ejecta - looks interesting. Dont ask me where-next after there - I'd probably need therapy if they lasted that long. My answer would probably be "Oh I dont know - send them to bloody Ares Vallis for all I care!"

The tempation at that point would be to comman a drive sequence that writes "EARTHLINGS GO HOME" in the dirt and have it imaged by MRO.


Doug

Doug, did you empty your wine-cellar?

Oppy will die in the etched terrain. Around sol 600, while doing an APXS integration on a piece of outcrop.

I don't think it will take 6 months to ge to Victoria, with the new s/w they might be able to drive 200m per day. Also to the SE of Victoria are some what look like drainage channels which would be interesting to look at.

Well Doug you may have to share that mars bar...



http://mer.rlproject.com/index.php?showtopic=681&st=45&#

Hey, I want some of it too

http://mer.rlproject.com/index.php?showtopic=681&st=105

Mars rover goes its own way

I second that. I'd head south-east as well towards the channel-like feature (roughly 30 km to the south-east of Victoria). I haven't done any calculations but that crater ejecta Doug is referring to seems to be at least a couple of hundred km away. Getting back to reality, I will be more than happy if Oppy gets as far as Victoria.

I'm all out of mars bars now

The crater I'm talking about is just outside the landing ellipse about 15-20km away

Doug

The newscientist.com article posted by ToSeek above also describes the flash memory usage by autonav pretty well: