How's Spirit doing lately?"
"Yeah we've still got the spirit allright!" "no, seriously, how's Spirit?" "No really, things are going smooth, we're getting along well with each other here too. Not hard, considering we've got such a successful rover going there!" "I was talking about the rover!" "Yeah I know, Oppy is what we call him now, short for opportunity you know. GOes smooth as butter!" "C'mon guy, how's the rover Spirit?" "I guess oppy's in good spirit too, gets to stretch his legs a lot these days!"
"The OTHER ROVER!" "What other rooooooOOOOOOH MY G-Steven!!! What was the last command you sent to that Spirit thing, you know, that Oppy lookalike we used to toy around with....did I hear "full forward on may fifteenth"??" "Give the pancam on the screen!" "What is all that glistering blue in the distance, there behind those plants?"

__________________
To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

__________________
Lyford Rome
"Zis is not nuts, zis is super-nuts!"
Mathematician Richard Courant on viewing an Orion test

Looks like they did lose a day, but not because someone "fell asleep at the wheel"

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/missi...ml#opportunity

I wish they had put up Oppy's total odometry. She'll likely surpass Spirit very soon.

Onward to Vostok and Victoria!

__________________
http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats...033/prj:6/.png

If they were to use the same driving stratergy as they did with Spirit enroute to the Columbia Hills, we could get to Vostock and the Ethched Terrain very quickly, however it seems the are going to undertake a much more leisurely drive towards these features.

Previously: Total odometry as of sol 358 is 2,200.6 meters (1.37 miles).

Add 300 meters or so to that to get the current figure.

Spirit has over 4,000 meters on the clock, so Opportunity still has a ways to go. I think Opportunity will be well past Vostok before passing Spirit on that score.

__________________
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

...my troubles seemed so far away....


RBG :roll:

Don't you mean "far awol?"

__________________
Moraliser Overtax Porn

Is Opportunity ever going to move on? It's been in the current location for about a week-and-a-half.

__________________
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

I suspect there is either some kind of techincal problem..or the've found something interesting in the soil.

At this pace we'll just about reach Vostock, and I think you can forget about Victoria Crater.

Yesterday's flight director's report just says they're checking out the trench and such. I'm hoping that this is an exception - 300 meters every two weeks isn't going to get Opportunity very far.

__________________
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Updated route map. Someone online said that they're taking a couple of sols out to upgrade the flight software on both rovers. So I don't expect Opportunity to be moving again until sometime next week.

__________________
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

It seems humorous that they call it "flight software."

__________________
Moraliser Overtax Porn

It's a fair point, but it's the standard term for the software onboard the spacecraft. "Ground software" would be the software that the control center at JPL runs.

__________________
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

They did a FSW update last year and it took less than a handful of sols. So if the update gets done until sol 380, then what the heck are they planing to do between sol 380 and sol 410 (projected arrival date at Vostok crater written on the route map)? :roll: They could arrive at Vostok within only four sols if they really wanted to. To me it doesn't make much sense to examine all those minuscule craters on the way unless something extraordinary catches Spirit's eye.

IMO the MER team should take a different approach with Opportunity now. The rover has scrutinized its current mid-Meridiani location and has done so with extraordinary success. It sits in a barren and very homogenous place and there probably aren't any other distinct geological sections nearby. However, if one looks at the fringes of the Meridiani plain, it really starts to get exciting. For instance, the nothern and eastern rim of Meridiani is formed by a huge cliff where the highlands plunge down into Meridiani, it's one of the most bizarre and rich landscapes on Mars. (There are fantastic 3D-images of that area which show extensive layering.)

I mean the MER team really should play it cool and start to push Opportunity more to its limits now. After all they have nothing to lose anymore, given Opportunity's past scientific yield. Now it should be time to gamble instead of beeing conservative. Summer is approaching, Opportunity is very healthy, hasn't accumulated much dust and sits on an excellent racing ground, the Martian equivalent to the Great Salt Lake. With a fair amount of audaciousness the rover could even reach the "Utah mountains" on the horizon with all their geological wonders. I don't mind which direction they're heading to. I just can't understand why the MER team doesn't take the unique "Opportunity" for new discoveries. ](*,) I'm tired of hearing all that "x sols past warranty" boasting while at the same time the team seemingly lacks confidence and resoluteness for big future deeds.

I agree with you. Most of the science available from Meridiani has been gotten - let's get to Vostok (which seems to be of especial interest for some reason) and then to the "etched terrain." When you're this far past warranty, I think you need to lean to the assumption that the remaining time is limited and you should make the most of it.

__________________
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

__________________
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

This is so true !!

but instead of trying to reach new horizons with all the gological wonders,
all they do is keep digging trenches and staring at the same boring rocks and mini-craters every 100 meters

I don't mind the strategy of checking craters along the way. After all, any one of them might have uncovered something we have not seen before.

If I was in MER mission control, I would send Opportunity towards the Etched Terrain with all do speed. I would look into craters along the way. If there is something clearly new, then it would be investigated. Otherwise skip detailed investigation and keep going since we are more likely to learn more stuff from a few extra days in the Etched Terrain than any Eagle-esque crater. Of course it risks missing a discovery by going South too fast. But not doing so risks missing the Etched Terrain alltogether since we don't know how long Opportunity will function.

Movement at last?

This looks like a new vista.

EDIT: Discussion on some other message boards indicates that Opportunity drove about 30 meters to check out some possible meteorites visible in photos from the trench site.

__________________
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

I can understand the frustration, but there are a couple of excellent reasons for stopping to do some science on the way.

First, there is on guarantee that the rover will be working at all tomorrow. If all they did for the next few weeks was drive only for the rover to die before it can do any science, that would be a crying shame - the rover mission is much much more than just pretty pictures.

Second, I'm sure the science team wants to check periodically for any transitions in the content of the soil to get a better understanding of anything they may find once they get to the etched terrain and beyond. The more samples they have the better the context. Better to do it now than regret not doing it later.

This is exactly what they did with Spirit on the way to the Columbia Hills.