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Opportunity Takes a Dip Into Victoria Crater
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Wed Sep 12, 2007 11:22 AM
from the probably-not-skinny dept.
from the probably-not-skinny dept.
Muad'Dave writes "From the NASA News Release 'Today, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity entered Victoria Crater for the first time. It radioed home information via a relay by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, reporting its activities for the day. Opportunity drove far enough in — about four meters (13 feet) — to get all six wheels past the crater rim. Then it backed uphill for about three meters (10 feet). The driving commands for the day included a precaution for the rover to stop driving if its wheels were slipping more than 40 percent. Slippage exceeded that amount on the last step of the drive, so Opportunity stopped with its front pair of wheels still inside the crater.' This marks the beginning of perhaps the greatest 'Opportunity' for new discoveries on Mars."
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Sounds scary (Score:2, Funny)
Posh.
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Somewhat like betting $100 at medium risk, winning $1,000 and then deciding to bet $100 again at higher risk (and reward).
I consider luck and fortune two different things. Luck just happens: finding a briefcase of money is luck. Fortune happens when you work and work towards a goal and all you need is just a little luck at the end.
Re:Sounds scary (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Sounds scary (Score:5, Informative)
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"Better to burn out than fade away" (Score:2)
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Just... (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Just... (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Just... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Just... (Score:4, Funny)
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At least... (Score:5, Funny)
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Opportunity drove far enough in -- about four meters (13 feet) -- to get all six wheels past the crater rim.
Damn, those rovers are bigger than I thought... or are martian meters smaller than terran meters?
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Yeah. They're now using 6 wheels instead of feet. Those seem to work quite well, too, unless of course one sort of starts wobbling and ceases to function (used to happen to my lego cars all the time for some reason...)
First read (Score:3, Funny)
For a second I thought Victoria Crater sounded more like the name of a p0rn star.
That changes the nuance of the headline significantly.
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Two reasons;
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That doesn't make sense. Voyager is nuclear powered and still running. Battening down the hatches and using the power plant's heat to keep the rover usable is a simple engineering problem.
2. Bringing back samples of a useful size means a pretty good sized rover - which leaves no room on the probe for instruments to analyze the samples.
The probe is working on scoops of dirt.
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Voyager isn't going to be buried in several meters of ice and snow. It's far from a 'simple' engineering problem. Among other things getting rid of the excess heat (from the nuclear power source, as batteries won't cut it) when you don't need it is a significant engineering problem due to the thinness of Mars's
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Porn Star Considerations (Score:2)
Well, considering they are named after their attributes, sometimes ironically:
Then, "Victoria Crater" just sounds scary, and frankly, I think a number of OB/GYN's out there would have to have a second degree in spelunking to treat her.
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Derek & Clive [phespirit.info]
wow... (Score:2, Insightful)
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Discoveries (Score:5, Insightful)
This marks the beginning of perhaps the greatest 'Opportunity' for new discoveries on Mars.
Reminds me of the old joke about a mysterious hole being found, experts are looking into it.
That aside, I wonder what they're really expecting to find at the bottom of this crater. Any material from the blast which formed it should be available outside the crater for a large radius. Down in the crater are they expecting to examine strata to search for traces of water, life, indications of Mars earlier life? I suspect most of this, like the debris of the meteorite would be easily found outside the crater without the risk of entering it. I'm afraid once Opportunity enters the crater that's the last of it's exploring days, roaming the surface of Mars and its only Crater News Network from now on.
to the astonishment of NASA a titleist was found at the bottom of the crater
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Wow, ol' Alan Shepard really whacked that one, I guess....
http://www.pasturegolf.com/archive/shepard.htm [pasturegolf.com]
The crater is a pre-dug excavation (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, what was once in the crater is now obviously outside the crater, but the ejecta was spread over a large area by the impact that created the crater, and of course that materials was subject to much more violent shock and heating. I expect it wouldn't tell you nearly as much as the layers inside the crater, even assuming you could distinguish between a thin smudge of ejecta and the surrounding desert floor. Any relationship between the layers (this comes above that, et cetera) is also only preserved inside the crater.
I'm afraid once Opportunity enters the crater that's the last of it's exploring days, roaming the surface of Mars
Probably. That's why they waited this long to try it. But they have to balance what they might learn driving around outside the crater and what they might learn driving into the crater (and not getting out). They've probably concluded they've learned about all there is to learn outside the crater, and if they can't get out, it's worth what they'll find in the crater.
Also bear in mind Opportunity's tools are wearing out, so its ability to do geology (as opposed to just sending back pictures) is coming to an end anyway.
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Re:Discoveries (Score:4, Informative)
Sure there's ejecta outside the crater, but:
1.) Much of it is covered up by blowing sand and it's all scattered about as opposed to conveniently in one place inside the crater.
2.) Ejecta may be more metamorphed by the impact.
3.) You don't know which layer a piece of ejecta comes from.
4.) They've already studied several rocks on plains around the crater.
They're not realistically expecting to find signs of life. The rovers are ill-equipped for that, being primarily geology tools, but they may find more evidence for water and definitely will gather more information about Mars' geological past.
The team is well-aware that going into the crater may be the last thing Opportunity does. It may be stuck inside (although, notice the drive yesterday included a cautious backtrack most of the way out), something important may finally wear out, or the shelter from the wind may allow dust to accumulate on the solar panels to fatal levels. Opportunity has actually been at Victoria Crater, exploring the rim and surrounding area since the end of September...over 11 months ago. They wanted to be extra sure they got a clear picture of what was outside they crater before they move in.
I wouldn't worry about it being utterly boring (except to normal people). Going into the smaller Endurance Crater previously was as cool as anything they'd done before.
The funny part will be the broken wedge and half a dozen divots right next to the golf ball.
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most of Opportunity's discoveries early on (Score:5, Interesting)
On the other Spirit took a couple of years to find evidence of water. The first couple years it crossed a volcanic basalt landscape, may with slight evidence of water healing in rock cracks. In its current area it has crossed bright sulfer salt soils - a clear sign of water. Spirit is very gimpy now. A couple meters a week is good progress.
Who comes up with the names for these features? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Who comes up with the names for these features? (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re:Who comes up with the names for these features? (Score:4, Informative)
(Source: Steve Squyres, the principal investigator, who told us directly, as he teaches ASTRO 280 at Cornell. Also, this Planetary Society article [planetary.org], relevant paragraph copied below.)
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From NASA's Rover Update http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html [nasa.gov]:
"In recent months, rover handlers have been naming local features and targets around Home Plate for deceased members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Because Home Plate is bowl-shaped, scientists have decided to name features on top of Home Plate after things served in bowls. Stay tuned for upcoming yummy descriptions!"
Yum. I can hardly wait.
next Mars lander May 25, 2008 (Score:5, Informative)
I presume they'll keep a low-key program with current Rovers after May. Unexpected longevity complicates NASAs budget. Sometimes they turn them off before they are completely dead like Magellan and Galileo. (Actually they crashed them into Venus and Jupiter for terminal science experiment and to prevent contamination of Europa.)
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The odd thing is that once the device is made and fired off on a rocket, far more of the money is spent than with the rest of the project. The cost to continue a project is minimal when the probe is already there.
I don't know about Magellan, but I thought Galileo was a preventative measure, they decided they couldn't risk an uncontrolled failure so they would just kill it when they still ha
consider both "capital" and "operating" costs (Score:3, Informative)
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The construction cost, in todays dollars, of Hubble was closer to about $3 billion.
Re:next Mars lander May 25, 2008 (Score:5, Informative)
Sure that's a lot less than a new mission, but it's not trivial.
Orbiters, by the way, have a special limitation. Once they run out of manuevering fuel, they eventually become completely useless, even if they're gyro stabilized (the gyros will become saturated). As a result, once the fuel gets low, it's not uncommon to do something crazy with them. To wit:
* Galileo plunged into Jupiter's atmosphere, recording data to the last. This was partially a protection measure to guarantee it would not contaminate Europa.
* Magellan did the same at Venus to develop the aerobraking technique.
* ESA Smart-1 hit the moon. The impact was studied from earth to look for water and study the geology. The same was done with Lunar Prospector.
* Stardust and Deep Impact both have been sent to visit additional comets.
* NEAR actually landed intact on the surface of the asteroid Eros. It was built as a mere orbiter.
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Re:next Mars lander May 25, 2008 (Score:4, Funny)
Oh good grief, when will our destruction of planets ever end? Mars has been experiencing global warming at an alarming rate, ever since we landed vehicles there, and now we're sending FULL-SIZE SUVs there even though it's obvious we are the cause of global warming? Good lord, what the hell is NASA thinking?
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Warning! Bad Joke Ahead!! (Score:3, Funny)
And we will now know that more than just Slashdot geeks look at Victoria's Secret.
Should have added more power (Score:2)
No more phone-homes! (Score:2)
You get what you pay for (Score:2)
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