In article ,
om@our_blessed_lady_mary_of_the_holy... _facility.org says...
On Tue, 25 May 2004 16:23:34 GMT, Doug...
wrote:

Steve Squyres said as much during the last press conference -- he'd
REALLY like to see the effects of entry on the shield. And, like I've
been saying for some time, it's obvious that the heatshield's impact dug
a hole that's deeper than any other fresh hole at the landing site.
Squyres really wants a look into that hole, too. So, I'll betcha we get
to visit the heatshield before it's all over...

...IIRC, they were saying for a while that *one* of them would get to
see one or both of the shell halves, but all of a sudden they quit
making that promise.

Yeah -- I think that, before they identified the Columbia Hills as a
traverse target for Spirit, the first primary trraverse target after
Bonneville Crater was going to be the backshell and 'chute. But when
they grew the balls to decide that they could, indeed, drive for two
months and get to the nearest obviously different landform from what
they are sitting on, the backshell and 'chute lost a lot of their
intrinsic interest.

However, I don't think anyone has ever doubted that Opportunity's
heatshield, being positioned fairly close to Endurance Crater as it is,
would be visited. Even Squyres insists that, in the event they decide
to drive on into Endurance, they'll postpone that until *after* they do
more exploration out on the plains. And that includes a visit to the
heatshield and the hole it dug on impact.

Doug