Opportunity’s steep downhill path
An update on Opportunity: The panorama I have created below from two images taken by its navigation camera and transmitted from Opportunity today, shows the steepness of the slope in Lewis and Clark Gap down which engineers are thinking of sending Opportunity. It appears also that Opportunity has moved closer to the gap since my post on Friday outlining the rover’s future travels.
I have not followed Opportunity’s entire journey on Mars close enough to say whether this will be the steepest downhill slope the rover has ever attempted. If not I suspect it is close to the steepest. I also suspect that they are still unsure whether they are going to attempt it, and are creeping slowly towards it to assess the situation.
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An update on Opportunity: The panorama I have created below from two images taken by its navigation camera and transmitted from Opportunity today, shows the steepness of the slope in Lewis and Clark Gap down which engineers are thinking of sending Opportunity. It appears also that Opportunity has moved closer to the gap since my post on Friday outlining the rover’s future travels.
I have not followed Opportunity’s entire journey on Mars close enough to say whether this will be the steepest downhill slope the rover has ever attempted. If not I suspect it is close to the steepest. I also suspect that they are still unsure whether they are going to attempt it, and are creeping slowly towards it to assess the situation.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
An opportunity to hurry up a bit, with extra gravity pull as assistant. Not that gravity is so heavy there anyway. But examining a relatively steep slope should be interesting since its surface must’ve formed a bit differently. If not geologically, then by how it has collected or lost dust or how it has eroded differently because of the tilt. I think that the slope itself is worth the challenge, also as a technology demonstrator. RSLs and flowing water overall will be found on slopes. This could be a good training for a future rover design.
Is it truly as steep as it appears?
The camera/rover could be tilted and the horizon may not be horizontal. They aren’t driving around a parking lot, after all…
BSJ: The horizon is the clue. In this image, unlike others, the horizon is generally horizontal, which suggests that the image is also showing us with reasonably accuracy the tilt of the slope.
So, your saying they found a perfectly level spot to park the rover, just so they could snap a picture. Without telemetry data you’re just guessing!
The horizon could just be another inclined slope. Without “human scale” objects like trees or structures in the image, the apparent distance can be quite deceiving.
BSJ: Your are completely right, I am guessing, though I think it is an educated guess. The horizon appears to me to be the opposite crater rim 14 miles away, which will be generally level.
But you are right, this is a guess.
The slope on Earth could be considered rather steep and an attempt to descend could trigger landslides, but in the lower gravity of mars the angle of repose would be much greater and this slope is much more “gentle” than our Earth trained senses would have us believe.
Maybe it’d be a good thing to cause a landslide. Let it skid and see how much of an avalanche it causes, and what that reveals from the underground uncovered.
Instead of a one inch drill, Mars rovers should carry a set of explosive devices planted and set off at safe distances (behind a ridge). The plumes watched by satellites and rover cams and then approached to be chemically investigated by sampling. Explosives have a much bigger role to play in the planetary exploration than they are given today. They were important during the Apollo program.