Check out the latest flight directors update, Spirit hits 2km and drives a record 120m. They must be at least half way by now, maybe a little further

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/flig...ctor/index.cfm

Definitely more than halfway from Columbia Station, not so sure about from Bonneville. There's a spot on the trek marked "Midway Station" that probably meets that qualification - should be there soon!

Looks like about 1.5km (less than a mile) to go, in any case.

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According to the reports, Spirit has travelled just over 850 m since Missoula Crater station.

Sol travel total-Odo comment
------------------------------------
106 00 m.................@Missoula
107 74 m 977 m
108 ?? m
109 ?? m
110 80 m
111 60 m
112 60 m
113 00 m ..................@Lahontan?
114 00 m ..................@Lahontan?
115 00 m ................. comm glitch
116 91 m ................. new new daily record
117 37 m
118 92 m .................. new daily record
119 00 m ...................uplink error
120 ?? m 1566 m
121 97 m 1669 m .......new daily record
122 65 m
123 95 m 1830 m

Note: the dailies don't add up to the final total, mainly due to rounding errors. Still, by this chart, if Spirit was at 972 m at Missoula and is now at 1830 m, the difference is 858, so it has to be right there at Midway.

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Probably means its time to bring it in for an oil change and a tire rotation.

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You probably need to stick a fudge factor in there to account for dodging boulders, visiting specific targets, etc., so it's probably not as far along as it would be if it had traveled in a straight line.

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You're right, Swift! And, right on time, here's a photo of our intrepid explorer leaving after service. Why so disgruntled looking? Unfortunately the coupon for a $9.95 special expired in 2003. :wink:

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According to the latest status report less than 1.2km to go. Any idea where Spirit is right now? Hard to make out what was Bonnevile Crater now, or even Missoula Crater.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html

Here's the map. You've got to think that Spirit is almost to Midway by now.

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The May 13 Flight Director's Report indicates that Spirit is within a kilometer of the hills, which means Spirit has to be well past Midway by now. I don't know why that station has not been mentioned.

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I thought the plan was to be drive some - do some science - drive some - do some science - etc., averaging about 40 meters/day overall. But look at the recent figures:

Odometry after Sol 120: 1566 meters
Sol 121: 97 meters
Sol 122: 65 meters
Sol 123: 95 meters
Sol 124: 80 meters
Sol 125: 124 meters
Sol 126: 56 meters
Odometry after Sol 126: 2089 meters

If Spirit keeps going at this rate, she'll be to the Hills by Sol 140, not Sol 160! Just in those six sols, they cut the remaining distance by a third.

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Maybe they have not spotted a suffiently interesting target?

I think they perform "touch and go" observations on a 4 day rotation? , the APXS and Mossbauer are deployed overnight on selected targets and the microscopic imager in the morning leaving the afternoon free for driving.

It must be something like that. From the press conference before last, it sounded as if the plan was to do science observations on a four-day rotation no matter where they were. But judging by what they were doing at the time, it seemed as if they were going to stop, dig a trench, and analyze the trench before moving on. But I haven't seen any trenches lately. (Not that I'm complaining - I want to get a good look at these hills!)

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ToSeek -

You're right, they certainly have been motoring over the plains the last week. They must have gotten around 68 m on Sol 127. I went to a talk on the missions on Thursday afternoon and the total odometry for Spirit was given as 2157. I had been thinking arrival around Sol 148 but a week earlier would be better.

The layering is interesting. It looks like folded (convex up) layers farther up. If that isn't just an illusion, they may support the idea of the hills being volcanic compressional wrinkle ridges, which occur in Gusev http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20030725a.html .

Sol 127: 70 meters
Sol 128: 90 meters
Sol 129: 31 meters blind (+11 autonomous?)
Odometry: 2292 meters
Distance remaining to Columbia Hills: 936 meters

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According to the same update "Sol 132 was spent re-establishing that knowledge with panoramic, navigation and hazard avoidance camera imaging of the rover's surroundings." The last images posted 17th May appear to show the approach to the ridge which caused the problem. It's now Sol 136 so where are the images?

(Similar postings have led to them being posted within a few minutes so lets hope!)

They were doing well for a while there, but the Exploratorium hasn't updated since Monday. Maybe somebody's on vacation....

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I think they were planing on digging a trench on Sol 135 and spending a few sols analysing it. So apart from the Drives on Sol 133 and 134 it might not have moved since then. Opportunity was due to drive to the rim of Endurance and prepare for taking another big colour pan of the crater.

The dam has burst for Spirit at the JPL site.

295 new images since 05/21/2004 03:39:56 PST

(Ya know... I've never really undestood that wording. Shouldn't it be: 295 new images since the previous update? Or: 295 new images posted at 05/21/2004 03:39:56 PST?)

Still waiting for Opportunity.

Oh, I see some new pictures are at the Exploratorium site for Spirit and Opportunity.

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0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0....

I've always interpreted the statement to mean "If the last time you checked this page was before this date and time, we have some new stuff for you." But it is a strange phrasing.

Which probably means the Opportunity images will be up before the night is out.

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