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Posted by Peter Munn on December 19, 2007, 6:44 pm
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Leafing through sci.space.news, I read this message of Sun, 16 Dec 2007:
>SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Scouts "Home Plate" for Safe Haven -
>sol 1390-1397, December 14, 2007:
>
>Spirit has arrived at the north edge of "Home Plate." The rover will
>spend the next few Martian days, or sols, scouting the edge of Home
>Plate and acquiring images of the slopes to determine the best site
>for
>"Winter Haven 3," where Spirit will try to survive another season of
>minimal sunlight. Once the team selects a site, Spirit will drive down
>the north-facing edge of Home Plate and maneuver into position to
>achieve the highest northerly tilt possible.
>
>Power levels are dropping rapidly, partly because the sun continues
>its
>retreat north on its way to winter solstice, and partly because the
>landscape tilts slightly southward near the rim.
... but mostly because the sun is "retreating from Mars" as Mars gets
further away from the sun in its very elliptical orbit.
[It's probably a couple of years since we corrected this habitual piece
of PR simplification, so I reckon it's worth repeating now.]
> Drive sols are so
>precious and few, the team has been working long hours and weekends to
>make the most of the remaining sunlight.
[...]
>Odometry:
>
>As of sol 1397 (Dec. 8, 2007), Spirit's total odometry was 7495.15
>meters (4.66 miles).
So that's 56m since we heard the haven was "240.5 meters (130.8 feet)
away" [in a straight line], and it sounds like there is some way to go,
but nothing like 200m (which is a relief).
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