circular views from the last two sols, for location purposes.

Phil

sol 3868:
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sol 3670:
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Sol 3871 pancam view of Cape Tribulation:
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Beautiful gust out on the plains on 3873:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol3873
It wasn't there (or at least wasn't obvious) in the adjacent frame taken a couple of minuted earlier:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol3873

My take on the Sol-3873 Drive Direction, and I couldn't help but make a desktop background as well.


1920x1080

More gust action on 3875:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol3875
I suppose our elevation is helping us see farther out in the plains than we have before, so we can better see the gusts.

The Navcam L0 panoramic view on Sol 3873.

Jan van Driel

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here is a circular version of Jan's panorama. The big wind gust dust cloud is visible to the northwest.

Phil

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The Pancam L7 view on Sol 3875.

Jan van Driel

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and the Navcam R0 view on Sol 3875.

Jan van Driel

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I made this for my family's Christmas card this year. I hope everyone has wonderful Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Years.

The Panoramic views taken on Sol 3881.

Jan van Driel

Navcam
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Pancam
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This circular view is made from a combination of Jan's two pans.

Phil

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Here is the complete panoramic view stitched
together from images taken on Sol 3881 and Sol 3884.

Jan van Driel.

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Striking hazy-looking region at the near side of the plains in the latest navcams, eg this one:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol3884
At first I thought it might be gusts kicking up dust, but you can see the region in navcams from our last couple of stops. I think what we're seeing is this high-albedo feature:
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This is Jan's pan (with summit added) in circular form. Fredk's smooth bright area and the circular eroded crater beyond it are clearly visible.

Phil

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Getting close to the summit:

http://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/i...mitApproach.jpg

(credit: Larry Crumpler's blog)

...and even closer on 3881 according to Phil's map...

The Pancam L7 view on Sol 3887.

Jan van Driel

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Still a couple of weeks away from masking off bank 7 according to this story.

The summit and the tracks behind us.

Thanks so much James !

A good drive uphill on sol 3893 - this shows where we are now. A proper map update will follow later.

Phil

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Thanks so much Phil for this update : we are now so close to the summit !

The Navcam L0 view on Sol 3893.

Jan van Driel

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So exciting...what a climb...Oppy's anniversary views await...
Congratulations to the MER team

A new hazcam image in exploratorium from Sol-3602 (March 13, 2014). My guess is it was stuck in the pipeline, it could not have been just sent from the rover....the flash has been formatted a couple times since then. Unless it was stored in an area of flash that wasn't formatted?

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...CRP1214L0M1.JPG

Sol 3905: anaglyph of the small crater near the summit:
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The Pancan L2 view on Sol 3905.

Jan van Driel

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Great! And the crater (Astrolabe) is already far behind us - a 55 m drive today and the scenery gets better all the time:

http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/im...9P2447L2M1.html

Phil

A circular half pan (very roughly assembled) to give a location for my map.

Phil

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An anaglyph view from Sol 3906


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Colour version of Astrolabe Crater



James

The Pancam L2 view on Sol 3906.

Jan van Driel

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I haven't been following Opportunity so closely since it reached the Endeavour crater, but have rover team members speculated about any science targets beyond Endeavour?

As I understand it, there is no "Opportunity MUST stop working beyond this point" restriction, and despite memory issues, it's still working and very much mobile. Once Endeavour was the destination on distant the horizon that we might never reach, because the rover "could potentially break down for good at any time". That's a very long time ago now, so plans far into the future should not seem hopelessly optimistic, right?

Curious.

I for one have heard no mention of targets past Marathon Valley.

The main goal at Endeavour has been the clays. The orbital clay signatures continue at least to the next rim segment to the south, Cape Byron. So I could imagine continuing to there after Marathon.

I don't know if there are other interesting signatures elsewhere at Endeavour. But we would probably stick to Endeavour for the foreseeable future, since the next comparably-sized crater, Iazu to the south, would be a trip roughly as long as landing site to Endeavour...

All this hinges on what science arguments could be made for further mission extensions...

The question from Habukaz is an interesting and appropriate thing to ponder as we survey the whole landscape from this wonderful vantage point. You have a seemingly immortal rover that can nose around on another planet recording and studying whatever may happen to be there, incredible! Would you really just shut it down, not knowing what it might discover next if you didn't?

There was the old idea of using Spirit for long term radio science when it became clear mobility was no longer an option, right? I don't recall how long Oppy would have to stay still to get those measurements (and InSight would probably make this redundant anyway next year).

I don't think the U.S. has ever ended a possibly productive mission on the surface of another body. The apollo ALSEP science packages were turned off, but only when the science return became almost nill.

The Navcam L0 view on Sol 3906.

Jan van Driel

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Did they get their last round of funding based solely on planned activities in Marathon Valley? The review board liked what they said and gave a big thumbs up so I'm betting Squyres and Co. listed a lot more than that - surely that proposal can be found and purveyed?

Oppy already did that in Cape York, right?

Yes, at Greeley Haven, the winter before last.

Phil

After a decade of driving, the gradually expanding scale of distance and size of travel targets for Opportunity is just astounding. The Route map in Google Mars demonstrates this fact beautifully. Zoom out from Eagle crater to Endurance to Victoria to Endeavor, and think about how much bigger the dream got as the years progressed. Reaching Iazu in another several years seems like a piece of cake by now. If new science targets aren't nearby after Marathon Valley, maybe she'll get out on the road again!

Seeing up-close the foot of the northernmost point of Iazu's ejecta, that looks like a cape, would be an incredible feat !

Wow - a 98 m drive - we're going so fast I would rename Opportunity "Flash"... except that might be inappropriate right now.

http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/sol/03908.html

Phil

One day something critical will fail and we will all suffer severe withdrawal symptoms. But while Oppy has communication capability I think they will keep her on the books, albeit with a pretty low DSN allocation.

DSN costs are amortized across multiple Mars missions thanks to MSPA DSN capabilities.you either operate the rover ( at something around $15m/yr) or you don't. The team can't get much smaller whilst still being a viable ops team.

The Navcam L0 view on Sol 3908.

Jan van Driel

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... and Jan's panorama in circular form.

Phil

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I wasn't actually referring to the cost but to the allocation of the available tasking resource across a number of missions.