stereo strip - Spirit's "trench" . . .
Opportunity at "El Capitan". . .
Stereo strips - "El Capitan" . . .
Posted on 02/21/2004 6:29:44 PM PST by Phil V.
Daily Updates - February 21, 2004
Spirit Status for sol 48 Down in the Trench posted Feb. 21, 11 am PST
On its 48th sol, ending at 1:16 p.m. Saturday, PST, Spirit maneuvered its robotic arm successfully within the challengingly tight confines of the trench that the rover had dug into the floor of "Laguna Hollow" the preceding sol.
Spirit used the microscopic imager on the arm to take pictures of details in the wall and floor of the trench during the morning. Then Spirit rotated the tool turret at the end of its arm and placed the Moessbauer spectrometer in position to read the mineral composition of the soil on the trench floor. That reading was designed to last about 12 hours, from mid-sol into the martian night. Spirit's panoramic camera and miniature thermal emission spectrometer were also used during the sol for studies of sky and rocks.
Spirit has been told to wake up and switch from the Moessbauer spectrometer to alpha particle X-ray spectrometer on the trench floor during the pre-dawn hours of the next sol. Later on sol 49 (which ends at 1:56 p.m. Sunday) and early on sol 50, plans call for using those spectrometers on the walls of the trench and making additional observations of the "Laguna Hollow" area. Then Spirit is slated to resume its trek toward the rim of the crater nicknamed "Bonneville," now estimated to be about 135 meters (443 feet) northeast of the rover's current location.
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Opportunity Status for sol 27 Supersized Science posted Feb. 21, 11 am PST
On sol 27, ending 12:57 a.m. Saturday, PST, Opportunity successfully "supersized" the measurements of the "El Capitan" area with the panoramic camera, miniature thermal emission spectrometer, and microscopic imager. The rover team is analyzing "super resolution" and "super spectral" observations from the science instruments and currently locating the best spots to place the rock abrasion tool.
Opportunity also drove 33 centimeters (13 inches) closer to "El Capitan" to better poise the robotic arm for use of the rock abrasion tool sometime over the next four or five sols, which will be the first use of the rock abrasion tool by Opportunity.
On sol 28, ending at 1:38 a.m. Sunday, PST, plans call for Opportunity to take extensive microscopic images of "El Capitan," which is a rich science target because it has multiple layers and varied textures on the upper and lower areas of the rocks, implying multiple changes in the geologic history of this area.
The Mars Odyssey orbiter is scheduled to fly over Opportunity during sol 28 with increased data communications capabilities to 256 kilobits per second, which is five times the speed of normal home computer modems.
stereo strip - Spirit's "trench" . . .
Stereo strips - "El Capitan" . . .
The face of this rock (weathered cracks) remind me of the irregular cracks in mud as it dries and shrinks.
I betcha a pound of steamed buttered mussels that they remind Hoaxland of Mesopotamian cuneiform. :)
You'll need to drive to Michigan to collect, in the rare case that I'm wrong, heheheheh. And be advised that I do cheat. If he says Sumerian cuneiform, I'll put that down as a win for me. :)
I mean... it just floors me to read, "Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet..."
Thanks again for your work with the ping list.
Much appreciated.
I feel the same way, eddie. I'm sure that there are folks with vastly more IQ horsepower than I looking at this stuff but the stuff IS NEW - NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!!! In a sense what you and I are looking at is fair game for interpretation. Who knows - a FReeper may look at these things from an angle that triggers a Completely unexpected new approach - a new mode of thinking or interpreting . . .
PLAY BALL!
Heh heh heh Isn't this cool stuff.
Plotting and SchemingThis graphic is a planning tool used by Mars Exploration Rover engineers to plot and scheme the perfect location to place the rock abrasion tool on the rock collection dubbed "El Capitan" near Opportunity's landing site. "El Capitan" is located within a larger outcrop nicknamed "Opportunity Ledge."
The rover visualization team from NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., initiated the graphics by putting two panoramic camera images of the "El Capitan" area into their three-dimensional model. The rock abrasion tool team from Honeybee Robotics then used the visualization tool to help target and orient their instrument on the safest and most scientifically interesting locations. The blue circle represents one of two current targets of interest, chosen because of its size, lack of dust, and most of all its distinct and intriguing geologic features. To see the second target location, see the image titled "Plotting and Scheming -2."
The rock abrasion tool is sensitive to the shape and texture of a rock, and must safely sit within the "footprint" indicated by the blue circles. The rock area must be large enough to fit the contact sensor and grounding mechanism within the area of the outer blue circle, and the rock must be smooth enough to get an even grind within the abrasion area of the inner blue circle. If the rock abrasion tool were not grounded by its support mechanism or if the surface were uneven, it could "run away" from its target. The rock abrasion tool is location on the rover's instrument deployment device, or arm.
Over the next few martian days, or sols, the rover team will use these and newer, similar graphics created with more recent, higher-resolution panoramic camera images and super-spectral data from the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. These data will be used to pick the best spots to apply the rock abrasion tool on two very distinct areas of "El Capitan." The upper and lower portions of "El Capitan" have different textures, and both areas should provide distinct and unique clues about the history of Mars. The rock abrasion tool will also enter the target areas from different perspectives, creating unique views simply by the way they grind into the different areas of the rocks. For the current upper target (seen here), the rock abrasion tool would go into the rock as if from the side of a layered cake, while at the bottom target, the instrument would enter from above as if going down the middle of a cake.
"El Capitan" was named after a mountain in Texas, but on Mars, it is about 10 centimeters (4 inches) high. Scientists are eager to use the rock abrasion tool to peer deeper into the history of the formation of "El Capitan," and the team will spend multiple sols taking pre- and post-measurements of the rock targets. Opportunity will spend one sol moving inbetween target locations.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Ames/Honeybee Robotics
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