1st Photos of Opportunity Trenching

Here are some photos that show Mars Rover Opportunity "Trenching" so to speak. Any comments or speculations on the photos presented?



marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov...



[Edited on 16-2-2004 by Dreamz]

[Edited on 17-2-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

Either the soil is really rich and soft... Or it's kinda muddy... In the "trench" it's also kinda shiny... Maybe water?? And it's sticking to the wheels..

[Edited on 16-2-2004 by DarkHelmet]

Yeah I seen the white stuff that almost resembles perma-frost, but the fact that it rubbed off on the wheels is very intriguing.

Actually, if you look at the far wall of the trench, it appears the soil is dry and dusty, as it collapsed into the trench upon the rover backing up, just like sand almost.

But the soil does exibit adhesion tendencies too.

I am hoping for one of the fabled dust storms to appear while rover is snapping pictures.

It also appears dry because the pic is in black and white... U don't know if it really is... though it looks dry it may not be. If we saw that the top soil was a reddish-brown color, but the soil on the wall of the trench or on the bottom of the trench was dark brown or something.... then we'd know, but I don't see why they don't use their color cams to take these pics...

uno, i wuda said that first pic looks a lot like caked mud or dirt, but the second comes off much more like the traditional sand.
digging into the surface like this isnt something i wuda thought up, but its a really good idea, im glad they finally got around to it.

This should not have happened with the rovers system of control. It moves very slowly, and always checks to be sure it is not losing its footing. If one wheel begins to sink it will lift that wheel, and back up. I believe this was done on purpose.

Now why are there not pics of this trench from the pancam?

ArchAngel: Yes it was done on purpose and i'm sure there will be many more photos yet to come.

by trenching into the soil, they can see a number of things. what its like under the surface, its compactness, how sdepp certian coponents go, and the structure of it - granualr, circular, etc. theres tons more they can get from examining it.
and yeah, it was totally planned. these things go meters in a day, hard to burn some rubber at that speed

Just to update this a bit. Here is some more info from spaceflightnow.com...

The rover alternately pushed soil forward and backward out of the trench with its right front wheel while other wheels held the rover in place. The rover turned slightly between bouts of digging to widen the hole. "We took a patient, gentle approach to digging," Biesiadecki said. The process lasted 22 minutes.

The resulting trench -- the first dug by either Mars Exploration Rover -- is about 50 centimeters (20 inches) long and 10 centimeters (4 inches) deep. "It came out deeper than I expected," said Dr. Rob Sullivan of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., a science-team member who worked closely with engineers to plan the digging.

Two features that caught scientists' attention were the clotty texture of soil in the upper wall of the trench and the brightness of soil on the trench floor, Sullivan said. Researchers look forward to getting more information from observations of the trench planned during the next two or three days using the rover's full set of science instruments.

Two features that caught scientists' attention were the clotty texture of soil in the upper wall of the trench and the brightness of soil on the trench floor, Sullivan said.

That's what I was saying... how the dirt looked muddy, and how the trench reflected the light... i still think it's signs of permafrost or water...

Originally posted by ArchAngel
This should not have happened with the rovers system of control. It moves very slowly, and always checks to be sure it is not losing its footing. If one wheel begins to sink it will lift that wheel, and back up. I believe this was done on purpose.

Now why are there not pics of this trench from the pancam?

Jeez ArchAngel why don't you bookmark the JPL site www.jpl.nasa.gov...

and pay attention.