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Readers!

 

The time has come for my annual short Thanksgiving/Christmas fund drive for Behind The Black. I must do this every year in order to make sure I have earned enough money to pay my bills.

 

For this two-week campaign, I am offering a special deal to encourage donations. Donations of $200 will get a free autographed copy of the new paperback edition of Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, while donations of $250 will get a free autographed copy of the new hardback edition. If you desire a copy, make sure you provide me your address with your donation.

 

As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.

 

Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.

 

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A Mars Rover Update

I have decided to continue my Mars rover updates, and make them a regular mid-week feature here on Behind the Black. This is the first.

Curiosity

For the overall context of Curiosity’s travels, see this post, Pinpointing Curiosity’s location in Gale Crater.

Since my last updates here and here, Curiosity has moved south through the gap between buttes to exit the Murray Butte area. The initial slopes of Mount Sharp lie ahead, an open road with no apparent rough terrain to slow travel.

Doing science however does slow travel, and for good reason. Once through the gap the science team decided to swung the rover west and up against the base of the gap’s western butte, rather than immediately head south to climb the mountain. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image below, cropped and reduced, illustrates this path.

Curiosity location Sol 1454

Looking back at Murray Buttes

Here they will drill to collect and analyze a rock sample. The image to the right, cropped and reduced, looks back at the gap, with the rim of Gale Crater visible faintly in the far background beyond. I have also indicated the approximate area viewed in this image in the traverse map above. The image below, also reduced and cropped, shows the base of this butte, with their planned drill site indicated.

drill site base of butte

Opportunity

For the overall context of Opportunity’s travels at Endeavour Crater, see this post, Opportunity’s future travels on Mars.

Since my last update here, Opportunity has moved down through Lewis & Clark Gap. The traverse map below, cropped, illustrates the rover’s position as of Sol 1485. Below that is a panorama, assembled by me from images taken six Martian days later, on Sol 1491, that I think looks southeast into Endeavour Crater. I have indicated my guess as to the view of this panorama on the traverse map.
Opportunity's exit from Lewis & Clark Gap
Looking east into Endeavour Crater

Based on these images, it appears that though the rover is through the gap, it is still sitting on a considerable slope. Whether they head to the southeast and down or turn west remains unknown. I suspect that the science team will end up doing a bit of both, in an effort to gather as much information as they can while they explore as much territory as they can.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

3 comments

  • Gealon

    Not having a line into the thinking of the drivers, I can only guess, much like you Bob, though mine would be that since the drivers did say they were going to leave the crater, they will do just that. I am thinking they are going to take Opportunity into the grey, flat looking area to the southwest, I don’t have an image with the area’s name unfortunately. From there I think they would likely drive strait west out of the crater. However, what I’d like to see them do is continue into the crater as you’re showing and do some spelunking in the interior and from there, find and exit somewhere else along the rim.

  • Edward

    I know that you have been complimented, before, for these updates, but I appreciate the perspectives that they provide, especially the overhead views with the field’s of view for the photos and composite photos. Seeing the paths taken gives some insight as to what the science team finds interesting, that they spend time in some areas and pass through other areas.

  • Edward: Thank you for the kind words. It would help me if my readers would, when they comment on this subject on any other website, provide links back to here. It will build my traffic, but it will also allow others to see this perspective, a perspective that neither NASA nor anyone else in the press is giving them.

    For example, is anyone here a registered member of Free Republic? Posting links to my essays there would help me enormously.

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

 

However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.

 

Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.

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