@Frank Apisa,
We live in very interesting times!
@cicerone imposter,
Yeah. I saw that. And I noticed that they sat on it for quite awhile, too. Pretty neat. Just like winning a cosmic lottery.
10 years and counting.
OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:
sols 3508-3509, Dec. 06, 2013-Dec. 07, 2013
Opportunity is up on 'Solander Point' at the rim of 'Endeavour Crater.'
The rover is maintaining favorable northerly tilts for improved energy production. Mars Odyssey went into safe mode and was unable to provide relay support for Opportunity since Sol 3509 (Dec. 7, 2013). The rover was healthy as of that sol. A Direct-To-Earth (DTE) transmission from Opportunity occurred on Sol 3512 (Dec. 10, 2013), providing a small amount of rover telemetry. That telemetry indicated a healthy rover. A drive was sequenced for Opportunity on Sol 3512. The results of that drive will have to wait on the return to relay service of Odyssey.
Odyssey exited safe-mode on Dec. 10, 2013, and is expected to return to relay service later this week.
As of Sol 3509 (Dec. 7, 2013), the solar array energy production was 268 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.587 and a solar array dust factor of 0.468.
Total odometry is 24.05 miles (38.70 kilometers).
@edgarblythe,
On the National Geographic cable station there is a program of "10 years on Mars" Its a summary of the successes and failures of the Rovers on the planet.
Its amazing at how the "rovers drivers" must be because they have a 10 minute wait between doing some forward motioning to a response and then 10 more minutes to see how far they went, and so on.
Id go nuts with that kind of traffic.
@farmerman,
But think of all the texting you could do while you are waiting.
@parados,
not when ones career depends on not fuckin up. That job is very stressful and is usually given to one of the youngest dudes or dudettes on the team. The one driver of the rover that got stuck, relieved himself of duty and took another point job . It took em lmost a yer to get unstuck and now the damned thing is down for the season.
Did you see the program? It was fascinating how like a very slow motion video game it was , but with the same tension
@farmerman,
I didn't see the program but I can imagine. A 20 minute reaction time is mind boggling. The only good news is there is no other traffic.
Considering the distances involved, ten minutes seems relatively fast, to me. 'Course, I don't have to wait it out.
@edgarblythe,
imagine driving your car but knowing that your moves now, wont take effect for 10 minutes. You could wreck the car
@farmerman,
I would lose my focus and really mess up. Which is why we need drivers with agile minds but plenty of patience.
We must be relatively close to Mars right now. The minimum light distance is four minutes, and the maximum is twenty-four minutes. The ability not to do stupid things has been a major engineering challenge in designing the rovers.
@edgarblythe,
I saw that in the news. Very interesting. I was trying to see if anything else in the photo changed as well (like other small stones moved) but I don't see any other changes.
That "rock" is obviously an artifact of an advanced civilization. I think the Venusians have a rover which stealthily tracks ours, and that they're laughing themselves silly right now.
@rosborne979,
The only changes I detected were the shadows had moved. Sinister, for sure.
