Next time I have a swim I'll try 100m butterfly without autonav...

Wow! What a change. The closest thing to such a view that I can recall would be Olympia. This is amazing. I hope the rover can capture a continuous map of the bedrock across this stretch.

Looking at Google Earth I see that driving my UK based robot a meaningful 100m would mean driving out the house, down to the entrance of the close, turning right and driving down to the end of the adjacent close. I'm not entirely certain my wi-fi coverage extends that far...

A 3D view that really shows the difference in Oppy's driving terrain now...

http://twitpic.com/2o9q4e/full

140m/sol? I certainly hope that one works out...

Recalling pics of a setting sun from one or the other MER, has either rover driven at night, or performed any significant tasks in darkness? thanks

Imaging, yes. Driving, no. I know the arm was loaded with heaters to allow an overnight tool change, but I don't recall it ever actually being done.

Yes, there have been astronomical observations including searches for meteors (no positive results). And did some APXS or MS work happen overnight? Sojourner used to do overnight APXS to reduce noise, until its battery failed.

Phil

Very subtle tonalities on the weathering rind on recent Pancams...

Series of 10 rhaz frames from the 2358 hazard avoidance test:
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Looping it like this it almost looks seamless, as if Oppy's driving over a periodic series of ripples...

You're right about the seamless - you could loop for ever and not notice! Awesome

Liking this bedrock...

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Sol 2358 drive direction mosaic - Oppy should be setting off across all the lovely bedrock in this scene tosol (2361)




James

Fredk - An endless sea of stone?

Big rock ahead, the next target?
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...PWP2406L2M1.JPG

Big rock indeed!!!

Oppy! Fetch!

NO way! There's a bigger one some 9 kms ahead.
We came in peace for all Martian (ok, bad pun) and not meteorites.
Well, yes, it's big

Ooh, look...

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Why am I such a meteorite-hugger?

Well.

There's a big lump of... something... up ahead. It's on the way to our destination, just sitting there, like celestial roadkill, right in our path. The question is, what IS it? If it's "just a rock", well, that's interesting, and exciting, because that rock isn't from these parts; it fell here after falling out of the sky, having come from somewhere else entirely. Maybe it's a piece of Endeavour? Hmmm, maybe it's a piece of the far crater rim, blasted out when that crater was blasted out of the farside slope?

But if it's a meteorite, where is it from? Is it a run-of-the-mill stone or iron from the asteroid belt, or something more exotic? A piece of Venus? A piece of Earth? Maybe. Probably not. But then the question is, how long has it sat out on the plain? How has it been shaped and carved by the martian weather? What can it tell us? What fascinating stories is it waiting to whisper into our ears?

Come on, everyone... Answering these questions, even just a couple of them, is worth a slight detour and a look-see for a couple of sols.

Oppy's a rover, yes, but her middle, less-frequently-used name is "Exploration". Scooting across Meridiani is great. But we can afford to explore a bit inbetween scoots.

Looks like two very different rocks kissing

Stu, you are, of course, correct. You can't ignore possible science when it is blatantly tossed in a manner that you would be hard pressed not to stumble over it. Still, in my mind, I have already changed Oppy's middle name to Excelsior. At Cape York, I will long for the far rim. Or Iazu. Or ponder, just how far is Olympus Mons anyway? It is the curse of believing simultaneously that Oppy could die at any moment but may live forever.

Very nicely put!

There will probably so many interesting features to study on and around Cape York that Oppy could be content for years there... until the end of her days. Her final pasture.

That is what I thought about Victoria Crater...

Yep. I remember a lot of discussion about how valuable Victoria was, and how Opportunity would likely spend her last days there.

Yeah, I remember that talk about Victoria too - I had this image of Oppy's final resting place being on top of the Beacon. In the end, we did roughly half a circumnavigation of Victoria, some parts only very quickly, in about two years, so you might think we could've spent at least another couple of years there (so we might still be there). But in the end the science wasn't there to keep us at Victoria, and Oppy was still in good driving shape, so off we went...

It's interesting though that, if I recall correctly, clays weren't identified at Endeavour until some time after we started the drive to Endeavour.

Wonder if we'll see the whatever-it-is more closely in the next few sols...

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Here's a bit of a stretch of the scene ahead. Getting some detail out on the distant plains - is the diagonal streak a DD track?

Phil

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Hmmm, could be... good eye, Phil!

It's charred terrain from the eyes burning a gaze into the distance.

Or a DD. Infact, we saw one not that long ago - in this very direction!

There are a few DD trails around looking at CTX and HiRISE.

Heck, I remember that talk about Endurance- there was some discussion in 2004 that it would be worth entering Endurance even if we couldn't get out again, because it was a worthy final destination. Hard to believe now...

John

From marsroverdriver's twitter:

"no driving today"

I think it means no drive planning today i.e. no driving during the weekend. But the one planned for sol 2363 might have been executed and the pics are just waiting in the queue.

Clearer view now of Whateveritis...

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... and there are more of them...

http://twitpic.com/2pk027/full

It's Alf!

And here's a navcam mosaic to put those anaglyphs into context.
There's a small crater right ahead, followed by Whateveritis and Whateveritis-II to the left in the distance. Those rocks are quite big so it may be possible to locate them on the HiRISE views. I'll give a try.
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I think I got it. Check also the KML version here.
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Regarding the feature's name, there was a pancam mosaic shot today named "Solander Point". It may be the rock or it may be the crater.

I love the scientific way that learned UMSF forum users (and are there any other kind?) come up with names for objects. I would imagine NASA are sorely tempted to go with this latest offering...

Neil

And behind the new rock is the next little crater down the inner slope of Endeavour.

Phil

The latest navcam from just above, reprojected...
Phil

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New pic of Whateveritis... hmmm... bears more than a passing resemblance to our old friend "Block Island" dontcha think..?

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OMG!!! It's following us

You mean we are dragging it...that's why we move so slowly. Cut the briddle Oppy and you'll rove 140m's per sol.
BTW, how can we drag anything roving backward?

The crater near where we are sitting is visible here: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...ZHP1312R0M1.JPG
I estimate it's a "rover weel" deep (?). Is there any interest studing the "crater wall" we can see on this picture?

No the rocks are moving by themself, like the Sailing stones in the death valley. And now block island has overtaken us (maybe in the night?)

With a similar purpose as on this funny video from HP I think the rocks are being put on the way by the little green men during the night just to delay our trek to Endeavour.

My guess is that only a few additional pancam shots will be taken. And then drive direct to the rock/meteorite/whateveritis.

Whateveritis in color
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Whateveritis looks great but Whatabout that mountain range in the background: spectacular!

Ah, a great, big, lovely, aeons-old, dust-etched, uv-baked chunk of charred star-metal... Oppy, fetch!!! :-)

Pronounced differently, the term "Whateveritis" seems more like a syndrome of a lazy person.