Opportunity going into a Crater, page 1
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reply posted on 13-6-2004 @ 04:47 AM by FreeMason
No actually Kano there is literal problems in getting the rover back out, for one those wheels are not the best traction devices, when you go 4x4ing you know you let the air out of your tires, these tires are solid and so can't grab on to surfaces very well. Opportunity already had gotten stuck for many days on a slope not even a fraction at the angle of this crater wall. They eventually had to completely alter the course of Opportunity altogether to maneuver around that small depression.

If it goes in it's pretty much stuck. It's a large enough crater it probably would be worth it, since winter is coming along and who knows if either machine will survive that.

However I believe that since both machines have already accomplished every goal set for them, that they should push the envelope and explore the region, not just a part of it.

Spirit is some 3.25 km away from where it began, and is nearing a large hill to explore, that is good. I'm not sure what near-by regions there are to Opportunity but I think that risking possible continued use for a possible success in a crater is folly. If nothing is found, that machine is ruined so to speak.

Where as if you maintain the rover's ability to navigate, it has the possibility of working for years...so long as the electronics do not freeze over during winter.

And you never know, a peice of anorthosite might be just over the next small hill. They've taken great photos of the crater, and it doesn't seem that there is good enough odds they'd find anything remarkable there compared to what they can find under a rock somewhere else. The bedrock exposed in this crater will not be much different from that in the one it began at.

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