Opportunity Nears Victoria Crater

[Fraser]

After traveling for more than 930 days on the surface of Mars, NASA's Opportunity rover is nearly at the rim of Victoria crater. This crater is larger than anything the rover has explored before, spanning 750 metres (half a mile) across, and 70 metres (230 feet) deep. Once Opportunity does reach the rim and look inside, it will be like looking back in time, analyzing stacks of rock layers. The rover will first search the crater rim looking for a potential path down that it can safely maneuver.

Read the full blog entry (http://www.universetoday.com/2006/09/07/opportunity-nears-victoria-crater/)

[Mark Coady]

Spirit and Opportunity were originally designed to last a year on the red planet. We're now going on two and a half years of research and discovery which is amazing. Are we sure that the Eveready Bunny hasn't been cloned and placed in these two rovers?

[ToSeek]

They weren't designed even to last a year, just 90 Martian days. I'd swear I'd compare it to someone who's still driving a Model T - and not just as an antique, but as his daily commuter vehicle for the last 80 years.

[Tharsis]

Hi everyone. Nothing of any scientific value, just a little enthusiatic commentary. Wow, what an adventure these two planetary emissaries have provided for us. We certainly got our money's worth with these two vehicles. After a relatively rather quiet traverse of the Martian landscape enroute, Opportunity's poised to climb the slope to the rim and peer over the edge of mightly Victoria. Of course, part of the fun of following these rovers is trying to imagine ourselves walking alongside, taking in the vistas. I've tried to imagine the scale of this crater by visually doubling the size of my local quarter mile track but its still diffficult to visualize. At 230 feet in depth, I'm surprised the planners are actually discussing entering the crater.

[antoniseb]

The general sense is that Victoria is pretty much the end of the road for Opportunity. I'm guessing that the rest of this calendar year will be spent cruising around the rim snapping vistas and getting readings from the high outcroppings, and that a good fraction of next year will be spent snooping inside the crater looking at rock layers. After that, we can probably expect that the last one out of the lab that sends controls to the rover will know to turn off the lights.

[Spacemad]

I've been following these two plucky Rovers since before they left our world. It's amazing what they have been able to accomplish in two & a half years! For vehicles designed to last just 90 Martian days this is a tremendous boost to the designers & the constructors. If they can produce such sturdy vehicles now what might they not produce for future missions - to Mars &, perhaps, to some of the giant gaseous planets' satellites!

[CuddlySkyGazer]

They weren't designed even to last a year, just 90 Martian days.
The limiting factor that meant the mission was expected to last 90 days was power, as that was the time it was thought that dust build up on the solar panels would take to reduce power availability below the minimum required. The machines themselves were designed so that there was a low probability of mechanical failure in that period. Once the dust problem turned out to not be a problem at all, the expected lifetime of the rovers went up sharply (although I haven't seen any figures as to what that is - possibly no-one wants to jinx things!).


The general sense is that Victoria is pretty much the end of the road for Opportunity. ... After that, we can probably expect that the last one out of the lab that sends controls to the rover will know to turn off the lights.
If the rovers are mobile, the mission will continue. It would be crazy to turn them off in those circumstances. It cost a lot of money to get them there, and nothing else can do what they can.

[antoniseb]

If the rovers are mobile, the mission will continue. It would be crazy to turn them off in those circumstances. It cost a lot of money to get them there, and nothing else can do what they can.

The rovers use communications resources that other missions (such as the MRO) need/will need. They also take some manpower to operate. What would you have Opportunity do after Victoria? We're probably two to five years of driving away from the next 'new and different' terrain features. In terms of manpower and communications expenses, that would be pretty pricey, and might not turn up anything new.

[CuddlySkyGazer]

I don't think there's that much drain on the communications resource, and if it gets tight NASA can always use Mars Express and other ESA resources.

Spirit has plenty of targets to aim for, and the marginal cost of operating Opportunity as well is not high.

I just don't think they're going to turn off an operating rover. It might not turn up anything new, but you never know until you look.

[antoniseb]

I don't think there's that much drain on the communications resource, and if it gets tight NASA can always use Mars Express and other ESA resources.

The communication resource problem isn't orbiting Mars, there's plenty there, it's the Deep Space Network here on Earth.

[ocalady]

Thanks, Tharsis, for your twice-around-the-track mental image. That sort of suggestion is very helpful in visualizing scale..

[hhEb09'1]

The rovers use communications resources that other missions (such as the MRO) need/will need. They also take some manpower to operate.Maybe they can donate it to a couple grade schools :)