Complex Rock Face Means Complex Arm Maneuver
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Today, the rover established a position at Kaibab, and attempted to
initiate the uplinked rover command sequence to place the arm-mounted
Microscopic Imager and the spectrometers onto selected targets. The
rock face that was targeted exhibited extremely complex geometry and
engineers knew that they were attempting a very difficult arm maneuver.
In designing the difficult sequence, rover engineers worked diligently to
ensure that the Microscopic Imager instrument would delicately touch
the desired target. "This is the fanciest arm sequence design I have
ever seen attempted," explained PI Steve Squyres. There was risk in the complex environment that
another part of the arm could unintentionally connect with the rock.
"The success of the maneuver's design depends, among other
things, on the quality of Hazcam-imaged range data at the location,"
explained MER Flight System Engineer Eddie Tunstel. Hazcam range
data tells the rover exactly what distance everything in the rover's local
environment is. Less than a centimeter of variance in this system could
result in a target miss.
Engineers wait for results. . .
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Eddie Tunstel |
Mark Powell |
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Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu |
Eric Baumgartner |
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Jeff Norris |
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