Mars Rover's Epic Trek For the Crater Endeavor

Smivs writes "The BBC reports that NASA is to send its Mars rover Opportunity on a two-year trek to try to reach a crater called Endeavour. The robot will have to move about 11km to get to its new target — a distance that would double what it has already achieved on the planet. Endeavour is much bigger than anything investigated to date, and will allow a broader range of rocks to be studied. Detailed satellite imagery from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will help pick out the best route ahead; and new software recently uploaded to Opportunity will enable the rover to make its own decisions about how best to negotiate large rocks in its path. Opportunity has just emerged from the 800m-wide Victoria Crater. Endeavour, by comparison, is 22km across."

11 km

[adpsimpson]

That's about 11,000 inches, right? Shouldn't take that long.

Re:Amazing

[ArcherB]

Godspeed, Opportunity!

Remember that Opportunity and Spirit are on their 5th year on the Martian surface. Their mission were initially planned to last no more than 3 months. Bravo!

So either the rovers are overachievers or we just set their goals WAY too low!

I guess they are taking a page from Scotty's manual.

KIRK: Mr. Scott. Have you always multiplied your repair estimates by a factor of four?

SCOTTY: Certainly, sir. How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?

Opportunity proves it:

[paniq]

studying ... rocks!

ok, maybe only studying ... rocks ... rocks.

If you get an ... opportunity.

Allright I stop, I'm killing myself.

Re:11 km

[FreeUser]

or 32 microts

Re:Opportunity proves it:

[ArcherB]

studying ... rocks!

ok, maybe only studying ... rocks ... rocks.

If you get an ... opportunity.

Allright I stop, I'm killing myself.

That's the Spirit

Re:11 km

[AliasMarlowe]

It's 11 km om Mars, so we should use astronomical units: almost 360 femtoparsecs.

Re:11 km

[mbone]

Parsecs are old hat. It's 36.8 microseconds (of light travel time).

Re:Opportunity proves it:

[strabes]

I think this humor Endeavour has been unsuccessful.

Re:11 km

[pzs]

There should seriously be a moderation tag for "sarcasm impaired".

Re:Opportunity proves it:

[paniq]

We're just cratering to our audience. :/

Re:Opportunity proves it:

[NightRain]

Make the pain stop!

Re:11 km

[Whiteox]

Nope. 11,000 metres

Negotiate? Huh?

[kanweg]

"new software recently uploaded to Opportunity will enable the rover to make its own decisions about how best to negotiate large rocks in its path"

What is the origin of that? I can speculate:
1) English origin: Very polite. You just don't go around the corner, you politely ask under what conditions it is allowed. "I beg your pardon, dear corner. Would it be inconvenient to you if we continue our way as indicated by you?
2) American origin: Don't take anything for granted. You may be sued by a corner before you know it. Call your lawyer. He'll do the negotiations. Oh boy, I hope he is tough, as this corner hasn't moved his position since I started talking to and yelling at it.

Bert

Re:Opportunity proves it:

[strabes]

I have to admit, the Opportunity was fairly large.

Re:Amazing

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree with you on it is an amazing feat for them to have lasted this long my issue is with how old these robots are getting up there why risk a risky two year voyage over a distance of about 6.8 miles to get to a creator that is 13 Miles wide and will take another couple of years to explore and probably end up causing a catastrophic failure of Opportunity to me this is a complete miss use of the opportunity they have with a functioning robot up there yet the functionality they have built into these robots donâ(TM)t give them too many more things to-do but explore
I also agree with you on this amazing feat for you to be able to have such an enourmous run on sentence with no punctuation whatsoever even though it seems like a risky voyage over all of those keystrokes just to get to the submit button to wait and see if your content got posted or if you got the slow down cowboy screen and then you have to wait for a while and just stare at the ceiling until you can submit again but back to the rovers I too hope they don't have a catastrophic failure when it goes to the new crater but hey what else can you do since it has explored everything else in the area that it is in and it might as well go someplace new to see something else because it isn't the destination but rather the journey

Re:11 km

[ArsonSmith]

It's an estimate right now. They're not sure where the Endeavor crater will actually be. Once Atlantis does the rescue mission Endeavor will be redirected to mars in order to create it's crater.

Re:11 km

[Sporkinum]

Maybe you've heard of it. It's the rover that made the Endeavor run in less than 360 femtoparsecs.

Re:More than a suggestion

[g-san]

This actually is some pretty challenging stuff.

You make it sound like it's rocket science or something on that level. Sheesh.