What about Gusev crater?

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That would make a great post card. Wish I was there.

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That's a somewhat scary picture. The rim looks reminiscent of snow cornices on mountain ridges, which dislodge into avalanches. Can you form cornices in sand? Anyhow, it looks unstable. I hope they approach with caution.

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That looks like a very, very steep crater rim.

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It also looks like only the top twenty meters of the rim is exposed anywhere. Not too much to tell us the geological history of the site.

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Bottom of the crater can now be seen

Unless the near side is more gradual and less covered with sand, I wonder if Opportunity will be able to do much here.


September 27 NavCam

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I think almost every bay we can see on the navcams is driveable in terms of slope, but I'm a bit worried about the sand too. The problem is that with current winter time sun angles we can't enter the crater from the north side that the rover is currently on. Too much shadow will kill us!
The interior of Victoria, sofar, seems a bit featureless, doesn't it? Totally covered in sand? Or will the details pop up when the pancams start coming down?

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It is good to get the view, even if the prospects are less promising that our fondest hopes would have them be.

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Nearby edge

Probably not a route into the crater.

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Yuck, a few interesting outcroppings, but Vicky looks like a bust.

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

Looks like there are sections that have a thicker outcrop than anything examined so far. This should give an improved idea of the geological history of this region -- the various episodes and how long it lasted. If Opportunity can just get to part of it.

The lower part is all slumped sand, but there's a lot of outcrop around the top. Remember that the outcrops in Eagle were really very thin, it was tiny.

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Probably not a route into the crater.

Anyone up for that Humans vs Robots debate again.

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You are suggesting, of course that 25 years from now, we won't have significantly better robots than these, and so it will be worth a quarter trillion dollars to send a gaggle of people to Mars.

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I merely suggest to send me. For all mankind BLEEEEEEB, just for me will do . I'm even willing to bring a robot along, or lift one out of a steep crater. I'm willing to place some bunnies, do the dustwork, anything robot-related, but ple-hease send me

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OK, I understand that.

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And don't tell me that ain't a valid reason to advocate sending people to Mars.

Surprisingly many people apparently can't accept simple, egoistic personal interest as a valid reason for anything, while it is so basic.

Example:
"Why do you want to change that? Don't tell me it's just because you don't like the job and want to get rid of it" Wy not, if that is indeed the case?

That said, I'd say go for robots and humans. If we can manage the costs and risks to a certain extent, I see no reason nor mechanism that will stop us from sending people to Mars long-term. IMO, that would go drastically against human nature.

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I have no argument against humans going to Mars in the long run. I'm pretty confident we will. I just have no reason to think it will happen this century.

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I can't put a date on it. There are certain current limits on space aspects and theoretical solutions to them; it depends on how well that turns out whether we will go sooner or later towards Mars.

But for now, we've got two brave rovers

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Edging closer

Possible ingress route?

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The possible ingress route can at least get the rover under that outcrop. It looks like there might be a steeper dropoff after that. Future images will tell us more about whether it is possible to enter and exit from here.

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