Mars Rover Faces Two-Year Trek

[n122vu]

From BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7630617.stm

NASA has a lot of faith in the continued operation of Opportunity. I'm amazed at how well both of these rovers have performed above and beyond their design specs, even though Spirit has a jammed wheel. I hope Opportunity survives the journey to Endeavor crater without incident.

 

[RisingFury]

Yea, I read about this yesterday. It's pretty amazing these two rovers still work


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http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/sep/HQ_08240_Mars_Rover_to_move.html

 

[tblaxland]

As orb posted already in the Chatbox:

NASA: Mars Rover Arrives at New Site on Martian Surface

After a journey of almost three years, NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has reached the Red Planet’s Endeavour crater to study rocks never seen before.

On Aug. 9, the golf cart-sized rover relayed its arrival at a location named Spirit Point on the crater’s rim. Opportunity drove approximately 13 miles (21 kilometers) after climbing out of the Victoria crater.

[TABLE="width=686;head;"]{colsp=3}Click for images for more info

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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity arrived at the rim of Endeavour crater on Aug. 9, 2011, after a trek of more than 13 miles (21 kilometers) lasting nearly three years since departing the rover's previous major destination, Victoria crater, in August 2008. After arrival, Opportunity used its panoramic camera (Pancam) to record the images combined into this mosaic view. The view scene shows the "Spirit Point" area of the rim, including a small crater, "Odyssey" on the rim, and the interior of Endeavour beyond.|A portion of the west rim of Endeavour crater sweeps southward in this color view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. This crater -- with a diameter of about 14 miles (22 kilometers) -- is more than 25 times wider than any that Opportunity has previously approached during the rover's 90 months on Mars...The closest of the distant ridges visible along the Endeavour rim is informally named "Solander Point." Opportunity may investigate that area in the future. The rover's first destination on the rim, called "Spirit Point" in tribute to Opportunity's now-inactive twin, Spirit, is to the left (north) of this scene.|This oblique view with moderate vertical exaggeration shows the portion of the rim of Endeavour crater given the informal name "Spirit Point." This is the location where the team operating NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity plans to drive the rover to its arrival at the Endeavour rim...This view, as if looking toward the north from an aircraft over the western edge of Endeavour, was created from computer modeling based on a stereo pair of images taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.[/TABLE]

[TABLE="width=508px;head;"]Opportunity Traverse Map (Sol 2676)
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[TABLE="width=508px;head;"]Opportunity Traverse Map (Sol 2654)
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I'm loving all the Australian name place references in those maps...Singing too-rall, li-oo-rall, li-ad-di-ty; Oh we are bound for Botany Bay :thumbup:

 

[John_L]

Yeah, if SpaceX keeps up it's pace... and JPL keeps up it's pace, maybe we'll have an Astronaut change out that bad wheel on Spirit....lol.

 

[TSPenguin]

Yeah, if SpaceX keeps up it's pace... and JPL keeps up it's pace, maybe we'll have an Astronaut change out that bad wheel on Spirit....lol.

That would be the most awesome spaceflight project ever. It would also spawn a new expression: "Facepalm Tsunami"
I would love to see it happen, given it is on the way anyway.