MARS: S putovanja rovera OPPORTUNITY

3D...bolje...

Pogled iz kratera...

Sleepy_II
Opportunity roved upon this intriguing suite of “purple” rocks nestled together on the floor of Marathon Valley toward the end of July, as she was on her way to shoot a new segment of the valley’s north wall. Purple rocks, which look purplish in the false color Panoramic Camera (Pancam) versions of images, and which the MER scientists have determined fell off from the valley’s northern wall, contain more silicon and aluminum.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornell / ASU

Razmišlja se o silasku vozila u samo dno kratera ENDEAVOUR. Odluka o tome nije nimalo jednostavna, jer bi u konačnico moglo značiti put u jednom smjeru, bez mogućnosti izlaska. Razlog za silazak je primjećeno postojanje tkzv. "velikih valova", koji su, prema najnovijim saznanjima, mogli nastati samo pod utjecajem tekuće vode.

Po mom dubokom uvjerenju, ovako nešto bi bio pogreb vozila...

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Going Back for Closer Look at Interesting Grooves Seen in Images - sols 4452-4457, August 01, 2016-August 07, 2016:
Opportunity is wrapping up the exploration 'Marathon Valley' on the rim of Endeavour crater.

On sol 4452 (Aug. 1, 2016), the high terrain walls of the valley prevented the low elevation Odyssey relay pass from returning any rover data. The team, aware of this, planned Opportunity's drive to the next sol. On Sol 4453 (Aug. 3, 2016), the rover bumped about 19 feet (6 meters) closer to an exposed outcrop, not before taking some more color Panoramic Camera (Pancam) panoramas of 'Gibraltar II'. Then, over the next two sols, Opportunity continued with more Pancam panoramas of Gibraltar II and an outcrop contact from the closer vantage.

With the plan now to leave the north side of the valley, the rover headed southeast on Sol 4456 (Aug. 6, 2016), with a 102 feet (31-meter) drive. Mid-drive Pancam imaging was collected. After the drive, the mid-drive imaging showed interesting ridges or groves that the science team is very interested in going back to examine.

As of Sol 4457 (Aug. 7, 2016), the solar array energy production is 607 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.706 and a solar array dust factor of 0.677.

Total odometry is 26.77 miles (43.08 kilometers).


(Zakasnio s ovim par dana... )

sol 4477....Postoje naznake da bi ovo bila priprema za izlazak na iz  Marathon Valley na rub kratera...

sols 4466-4473, August 16, 2016-August 23, 2016: Opportunity Continues to Study Grooves
Opportunity is wrapping up the exploration 'Marathon Valley' on the rim of Endeavour crater. The rover has found itself in an area where there are grooves carved in the rock outcrop suggestive of fluvial action.

Opportunity continues to conduct a very extensive visual documentation campaign of these grooves. On Sol 4468 (Aug. 18, 2016), the rover bumped two meters to set up for taking short-baseline stereo imagery. In addition, a small rock dubbed 'Muffler II' was found in the robotic arm (IDD) workplane on Sol 4470 (Aug. 20, 2016), and targeted for Microscopic Imager (MI) and Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). A further offset MI and APXS campaign was completed on Sol 4473 (Aug. 23, 2016).

As of Sol 4473, the solar array energy production is 582 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.727 and a solar array dust factor of 0.710.

Total odometry is 26.78 miles (43.10 kilometers).

Eroo wrote:
Opportunity is wrapping up the exploration 'Marathon Valley' on the rim of Endeavour crater. The rover has found itself in an area where there are grooves carved in the rock outcrop suggestive of fluvial action.

Ako se pokaže kao točno onda produženi trud nije bio uzaludan. U svakom slučaju mi djeluje senzacionalno.