Here are them. I had those places already updated on the map just waiting for the next move by Opportunity.

Click to view attachment

Why rover goes to there?

duck bay and bottomless bay are only ways to Victoria?, I think

> Why rover goes to there?

Because the search for an entry point is just one of the reasons for this circumnavigation, and probably not the highest priority one.
Analyze the morphology and mineralogy of the terrain and the crater walls is a priority too.

And SS has mentioned the stuff which most interests him is 120 degrees clockwise from Duck Bay. They'll want to have a good look at that first before descending.

Any idea what stuff that is?

Just checked the PCDT web and found some familiar names all related to "Santa Catarina", the rock currently under IDD study. "Joaçaba", "Tubarao", "Florianopolis", "Xanxerê" for the time being, all of them are names of cities in the brazilian state of "Santa Catarina".

Ah, old memories...

I was asking SS if, as, in my oppinion, Oppy is covering the ground faster than I expected, is the possibility of a total circumnavigation of Victoria closer than before?
If Oppy is going inside and (knock on wood!) not able of getting out, a full coverage of the crater from the surface would remain as a tremendous achievement...
But...nope...they're not planning on it..."Our plan is to go about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way around,
and then to go in. That could change, of course, but that's our thinking at
the moment."

Facing this I only see three possibilities of ingress: Duck Bay, Bottomless Bay or the Bay beyond Toil, that might be, reading Bergreen, Port Saint Julian...
And after ingress?
This is just a personal view, what I would like to see happening if the actual scenario persists...

That is some nasty shadowing there on that route...

There is nothing I see in Bottomless or Duck bays that other bays further round don't do as well or even better. One thing that might be crucial is how the seasonal lighting might put the rover in shadow at parts of the day when close to the larger outcrops and it may infact turn out that there's half a dozen places that are all favorable to get in, get the science and get out - but one offers systematic benefits because of slope or low shadowing. The south eastern quarter of the crater is, if the MOC DEM we've seen is to be believed, offers gentler slopes anyway - so I would think that it would be in the '3 to 5 o'clock' position that we actually go in.

Doug

I agree with the comments re the solar power constraints - it's a big risk going into Victoria at all and the last thing they'd want to be stuck with is an underpowered rover on, er, a slippery slope. That way leads to the Big Rover Trap in the centre of the pit, you know, the Sarlac wossisname.


Bob Shaw

Doug: Do you remember where you found that one? I recall a site loaded with all kinds of Mars DEMs and other stuff, but I never could locate a DEM for Meridiani or Victoria in a file format I could open.

You know, I see a lot of compelling reasons to go partially down one or more of the bays (and as close to one or more of the cliffs as possible), but few to descend all the way into the interior. After all, Oppy can make much better tangental observations of all of the bays from the rim than she could from the center of Victoria. Therefore, wouldn't it be reasonable to try to identify multiple partial entry/exit points instead of a full-blown descent?

There's only a movie of it on the JPL site somewhere...I've not found the actual DEM for that one.

Doug

There's relatively little science to be gained by Oppy going down into Victoria beyond the limits of bedrock exposure. As at Endurance, you get into the sand sheet dominated zone and traction gets seriously "iffy" long before you reach the dune field. What they'd REALLY like to do is go down one "boat ramp" and hug the side of a cape, getting a super-detailed view of layering and MiniTES spectra and X-ray/Mossbauer/Microscopic imager targets all the way down to the base of the cape. Then they'd like to "round the cape" and start up the opposite side, or traverse to the next cape's bottom and start up, repeating the super detailed stratigraphic exam in reverse.

To my way of thinking, the logical entry point would be the ramp that affords the most layers of accessible bedrock for examination. From a practical standpoint, this exposed bedrock should be the driving surface, as it was at Endurance. It might prove possible to access the layers on the sides of the cape beside the ramp, if the terrain allowed it to move within arm's reach. However, I think driving on a sandy ramp would be problematic, and my impression of the southern accesses that provide a more favourable sun angle is that they are sand covered. Plus more dunes at the rim. I also don't see the point of risking more than one entry unless no one ramp affords a total picture of the layers they would like to examine. The ultimate goal is to get in AND get out and do more exploring.

I still like Bottomless as the entry point, if sun exposure and power levels permit.

Brian

Anyone know how the Mossbauer is holding up? It's waaaaaaay past warranty, like all else...

Bob Shaw

Both mossbauers are working fine... the shortish half-life isotope sources are getting decidedly "tired", but that doesn't degrade data quality, you just have to integrate on-target several times longer than on Sol 1 to get the same signal-to-noise level.

Via Nasawatch live blog:

"Opportunity is doing great in terms of power - 600 watts. We are going to continue our clockwise rim traverse for a while. Not going to go all the way around. Need to put together a diagram as to how stratigraphy varies. As we go we are doing two things. Looking at alcoves for entrance/exit routes. One entrance point is at Duck bay - other at Bottomless Bay. Both may be adequate egress routes. We are also waiting for seasons to change for sun to move south so that when we enter alcoves we have enough power to do science on our way down."

Steve Squyres

The cobalt-57 in the Mossbauer has a half-life of 270.9 days, so after 3 (Earth) years it takes almost 16 times longer to get the same result as sol 1!

The Curium-244 in the APXS has a half-life of about 18 years, so it only takes about 12% longer than sol 1.

Any one know what date the seasons officially change ? Does spring on Mars start around June22 ?

Thanks.

I found the answer on the PS website.
Mars Calendar

So Spring starts 8 Feb 2007, in the Southern Hemisphere .

I take that to mean they are not planning on going more than a third of the way around.
The 120 degrees of interesting outcrops that Steve mentioned before. Since Duck Bay remains
high on the list of entry candidates, I expect to see Opportunity back there again one day.

...which will be the 3rd anniversary of UMSF !!!
...as well as my birthday. I'll be 35 or.. did I switch the 3 and the 5 ?

I know its not scientifically accurate but for me I will now forever think of the onset of Martian Southern Hemisphere Spring as being signalled by the first significant rise in atmospheric dust levels.

Yes, you're correct, that should be it if nothing makes them change their minds...

Updated route map (sol 1055) including the names of "Bay of Toil" and "Cape Desire". Some features names at/around Duck Bay were added too.

Click to view attachment

If anybody is interested, here is a screenshot of a "map edition session".

Click to view attachment

Updated route map (sol 1058).

Click to view attachment

Updated route map (sol 1060).

Click to view attachment

Updated route map (sol 1061).

Click to view attachment

Thanks again for maintaining the map, Tesheiner! It may get quiet (like now) from time to time, but I know that I for one appreciate your work.

Yes, Tesheiner, your route maps are most appreciated! I would have to call them "definitive" -- at least outside the gates of JPL!

I also appreciated you screen shot. You may feel like been in the driver's seat sometimes (well, after the drive actualy )
Thanks for this Eduardo

Thanks for the kind comments.

A bit "late", but here is the map updated to sol 1064.
Click to view attachment

I moved this post from the "Bay of Toil" thread to here:

PIA09116: Satellite View of Opportunity's Journey around "Victoria Crater"

That's an "old" map from sol 1061, Alex.

Latest map, updated to sol 1066.
Click to view attachment

The new official route map here or here has several new place names. "Explorer" = our Sofi. Also Cape St Mary appears to include our Bays A2-5. There are many more small sites named but I can't make them out even on the full res tiff. (Our Hoy = "Sunlight"??)

I know, Tesheiner. I posted it because it was just placed on the Photojournal page.

For the latest route maps, I always check here first

Impossible to read those tiny orange letters.
However, I think I have a clue. The names around Bottomless Bay might be these ones:



The name at the site corresponding to sol 1041 might be "Santa Catarina".
Can't find anything for the names at/around the Bay of Toil.

Tesh, I believe you are correct.
Explorer?...
Did anyone find out to what it refers?

Just my guess, but if they named "Sputnik" the little crater at Duck Bay, "Explorer" would be named for the first american satellite.

Going on craters being vessels of exploration.... Explorer could be any of these...
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/multi/explorer.html
or this
http://www.leithhistory.co.uk/ssexplorer/
or any of the many explorers on this list
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/ships/shind41.htm

Doug

Yes, this is the official version...

There is an other truth...


Hum...

I'm far, far away...

Arghh!!! That can't be true!

In that case, scrap 'Victoria' - it's now Firefox

Doug

Updated route map (sol 1067).

Click to view attachment

Ah, yes, of course! That explains the enormous hole in the ground!
(imipak, who got his name in the extended credits for Firefox simply for filing a couple of bug reports, and hence feels terribly proud & protective of it

I agree with Doug that the five-o'clock position (around H1) looks the shallowest entry point - but it also has the least rock showing, so I think somewhere in the next 20-ish degrees around the rim will be the entry spot. (Also, they won't want to spend a lot of time retracing their steps, so once they've reached somewhere suitable and the light's good enough... they'll dive in. I still can't quite bring myself to believe even the shallowest slopes are 18 degrees or less...

I was looking at Page 1 of this thread and when did the map updates change from Pando to Tesheiner? &

Updated route map (sol 1068).

Click to view attachment

Here we go again. The route map, updated to sol 1069.
I hope this is not the last one for Opportunity.

They are going for it! The navcams are looking only at the ground, no views, no pancams.
Really nice pancams from the point of the tip after the next drive--assuming no overshoot.

Are you kidding? I'll have a heart attack.
Ok, there are still 10m to get to the the tip but this cape is really narrow.