http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...pirit_n065.html

They are probably still posting up images as I post this (no late Pancams yet) but Spirit boogied today and can now see partway down into Bonneville. She's up parallel to that big wart of a rock formation and some of the slopes look smooth enough and shallow enough for her to decend into the crater.

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Burmese

Nice shots!

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Unless Opportunity comes up with something earth shattering (mars shattering?) Thursdays' press conference is going to be a lot of show and tell and 'can we get into Bonneville?' stuff.

I especially like the view back. You can see Spirit made two cutbacks while zig-zagging up the slope. Wonder how much of that was on autopilot?

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Burmese

Man those are great pictures! I can't even see the landing pad anymore. Looking forward to the panoramic views they get from the crater rim.

Wonder if there are any links to a "where are they now" website. A little boring for Opportuniy right now, but they are getting it ready to go driving soon as well.

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All civilizations become either spacefaring or extinct.~ Carl Sagan ~

Humanity must rise above the Earth, to the top of the atmosphere and beyond, for only then will we fully understand the world in which we live.~Socrates, 500 B.C. ~

Let every man judge according to his own standards, by what he has himself read, not by what others tell him. ~Albert Einstein~

They posted a bunch more pics up this morning but they are all from prior Sols. I suspect they are clearing out Spirits' memory in anticipation of a massive photo session starting this afternoon. They'll probably sit still at the rim for 2-3 days while taking detailed panoramas and Mini-TES imaging.

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Burmese

NASA has posted a 360 degree panorama fron yesterdays Navcam photos:

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05524

Full TIFF is over 16Mb

The big rock nearby is known as "The Hole Point"

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Burmese

Let's hope Bonneville has some accessable rock outcroppings, since bedrock seems to be where the real science is at. Hard to tell from the long distance shots if there are any rock outcrops visible.

I want Spirit to make an "earth-"shattering discovery just like Opportunity did!

OK, its' getting late and no sign of pics from Sol 66. Here's betting they're going to hoard them so no one gets to see them until the press conference tomorrow. It's either that or they botched a communication session with Spirit or drove it over the edge...

For that matter where are some Pancam pics from Opportunity of Phobos passing in front of the Sun? Perhaps they meant the eclipse would happen on March 10 but early om on Sol 46 for Opportunity, which is just now starting...

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Burmese

OK, so Phobos was on Sol 46. Got three shots of it, two of which have most of it in front of the sun.

Spirit didn't get -quite- to the edge but you can see most of the crater interior. That slope on the SE side looks almost like a manmade gravel drive leading down into the crate. The conspiracy nuts will have a field day with that.

Is that the heatshield that is so consistently reflective on the NW rim?

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...pirit_n066.html

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Burmese

It looks like there are some layered rocks visible on the opposite side. It also looks like the crater walls are very shallow over to the left. Getting in and out should be no big trouble.

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Yeah, but Spirit needs layered rocks she can -reach- to scratch and sniff.

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Burmese

It's hard to tell from the forward Nav camera images, but it looks like it could be possible to reach the lower layers on the opposite side. I don't know the maximum grade that Spirit can navigate, but I have to assume it is at least 20 degrees since it made it up the side of the crater at 15 degrees with no complaints by the NASA team.

Being low to the ground, I'd guess it could handle up to about 45 degrees in a forward/backward direction, and maybe 30 degrees side to side.

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I believe they've said 45 degrees is the limit for the Rovers. A bigger problem is traction at that angle. Just look at Opportunity sliding around in that small crater. I'm sure that they will have some comments about the feasibility of going into Bonneville at todays' press conference.

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Burmese

unfortunately, I have lost NASA TV as part of the switch from Dish Network to something else. Oh well, I have to wait for the normal media to give me sound bites and analysis. I'm relying on you burmese to get the details the press misses.

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I pull NASA in over the web on a 34k RealPlayer stream. I hate the regular medias' filtering of these things. They usually miss the important context of what someone is saying.

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Burmese