The view on sol 2473:
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La Gallega Crater

I love the shape of the horizon in this new hazcam shot:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol2474
When I saw how vague Oppy's shadow was in this next shot, I was worried that the tau had gone up:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol2474
But I think it's just the very low sun angle (local time's around 5pm in that view).

Does anyone think Oppy can drive over the ridge and onto the ledge at Yuma? No probs ?

I'm not sure it actually has to go down onto the ledge. The rocky top of that area might be all it needs to reach.

Phil

A Question: What is this certain Soil or Clay type object at this crater or at Endeavor that they are looking for so much? Is there another thread that talks about it?

Thanks

Check back through this thread, or check the Updates on the Planetary Society - linked to several times, or check the MER website, check Google. The Truth is out there, you just have to make the effort to look for it.

I think it won't be a problem. This new stereo pancam frame shows the access to the "ledge":
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We're currently just off the frame to the right. We need to move to the left, crossing a bit of a ridge. But the slopes don't look too bad - there's a tilt to this image, as you can see by noticing the horizon on the corresponding navcam view:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol2474
I'm guessing the next drive will bring us to the brink of that ridge, so we'll soon know for sure.

Any thoughts on the formation of Yuma? Is it younger than Santa Maria or contemporaneous? My first guess would be contempoaneous - a slumped portion of the rim of Santa Maria. If so, there is a coincidence of two peculiarities: atypical mineralogy from CRISM and atypical mechanical behaviour in response to the impact shock resulting in slumping. Are the two linked? Only questions now, but the answers may come soon. Let's hope interesting mineralogy doesn't correlate with dangerous driving in this case.

John already answered that : http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&p=169237

Basically - as it's superimposed onto the rim of Santa Maria, it has to be younger.

He was talking about a different location there, one that is clearly an impact crater. Yuma is not, on the face of it, the remains of a young impact crater. There is nothing circular about it for a start. (His argument as to why Gallega cannot be older than Santa Maria applies here too for sure.)

Sorry - thought you were talking about the crater. My bad.

I'm not clear on the status of Oppy's mini-TES. I know it's had problems, but is it intermittently usable or completely gone? Santa Maria would certainly be the place to use it, especially to help locate the hydrated sulfates. Also, wondering if the dusty instrument window makes the whole question moot.

Mini TES works - but the mirror at the top of the mast is totally dusted over, so the only thing it can see.....is dust.

They routinely open and close the shroud, hoping that it might clear.

The Pancam L2 view on Sol 2474.

Jan van Driel

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and the Navcam view on Sol 2474
taken with the L0 navcam.

Jan van Driel

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Sol 2475.
The navcam L0 view.

Jan van Driel

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and the pancam L2 view on Sol 2475.

Jan van Driel

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These layered rocks seem very coarse-grained compared with what we've been looking at for several years. Also... I like the cute little drift right on top of the hill here!

Phil

Here's the "ledge":
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol2476
We're still just over the ridge - here's my guess as to where:
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(You can ID features between that pancam and the new navcams.) But it looks like an easy drive onto the ledge from here...

You want a HOAV..?

Here ya go...

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Actually, the "ledge" looks a bit trickier in 3D. But still an easy job for our cliff-clinging friend!
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and for added

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Woah, Stu! That one made me put two hands on my coffee!

Pancam color composition from Sol-2476. It shows area on the right side of Stu's navcam panorama (three posts above)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55907406@N08/...722114/sizes/l/

I wonder if potential targets of study are viewable in these latest images? (Wonderfully assembled here!)
Do you see that nice outcrop near the edge with that suspiciously sandtrap-like patch in front...?

If you look at the view from across the crater that I posted above, there's plenty of tasty light-coloured rock between us and the sandtrap. It's not that easy to see yet from today's navcam view because it's heavily foreshortened. But I'd guess that they'll end up parking somewhere on the upper part of the "ledge", and stay away from the sand lower down.

That sand looks a lot like the hydrated sulfates to me, similar to what Spirit is stuck in (if I'm not mistaken). Take a look at the work of our trusty map makers:

Added 2 images to the Sol 2475 L2 pancam view.

Jan van Driel

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My own guess - just a guess - is that they've located the source of the hydrated minerals signature seen from orbit, and it's the relatively "blue" chunks of rock seen in this false-color L257 mosaic, labelled "Pancam Rim Survey". Remarkable if true.

The navcam L0 view on Sol 2476.

Jan van Driel

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"That sand looks a lot like the hydrated sulfates to me"

Not likely - sand is mobile, it should have similar composition everywhere around here. The signal is probably in the rock. Don't over-interpret that map, it doesn't show how bg the CRISM pixels are. It's just a guide.

Any named rocks or other features we can add to the map?

Phil

Not yet, at this location. Just "pancam_rim_survey_3x2_L257". Guessing that will change.

Geological jewels scattered at Oppy's feet wheels...

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Having Joined relativly recently, I'm quite wiped out by the work you all are doing with the data sent back.
But I could not resist :-
I Googled la gallega from UK and look what what google thought I needed to know !
Mike (septuagenarian who started out life making 1 valve(tube) mw rx for friends, & look at us now !! ).

The vertical, pipe-like fabric (like packed soda straws) in the rocks that Mike has pointed out is very different than the thinly-bedded, blueberry-rich material in the Santa Maria ejecta. It reminds me of features I've seen in some mineralized spring and sinter deposits.

That's an interesting looking rock, but I'm skeptical that it has anything to do with the CRISM measurement - there doesn't seem to be that much of the "blue" rock around, so could it be visible from orbit?

But I thought the signature seen from orbit was supposed to be consistent with the meridiani bedrock Oppy's seen all along. What was new was that the signature was seen from orbit for the first time. So the working idea was that the bedrock was more freshly exposed here and less coated in dust.

There was a small bump forward on 2477. Now it's time to start tasting some yummy-Yuma bedrock?
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol2477

I know we're going to be here a while yet, but I'll really miss those dunes when we move on...

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Me too! Shades of Ultreya/Eldorado, but (dare I say) the closeup images - with their dramatic setting - are even more compelling than those hillside dunes.

Lucky that the (apparently) best rim site for science faces them directly. I hope they manage to do a really good hi-res panorama from somewhere very close to where Oppy is now. At the moment, this very spot gets my vote for most spectacular Mars view yet.

I'm not sure -- does the rover have enough memory to do a hi-res of at least 180 degrees or so during a radio silence period (i.e., no downloads to clear the decks)?

Rover driver Scott Maxwell very kindly agreed to answer some questions on my blog, if anyone wants to have a read...

http://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com/2011/...ll-rover-driver

There's a line in there that will make your eyes go wide and trigger a huge grin too...

Wow, that's a whole lot sooner than any of us imagined.

Ooh, well, as long as Oppy has the l(eggs) for it

Wow, I certainly wasn't expecting that....! What a year 2011 will be!

There are still a few bits of corrupted data in the raws - but nothing a little fudging can't sort out, I couldn't wait any longer so without further ado, Santa Maria!




James

Yupi yupi yupi...this means we'll not stop for meteorites, yupi yupi yupi .
Well, we'll see...

BTW James, thanks for the view.

I am grateful for this! Good interview!

I interpreted Maxwell's comment to mean "if we didn't stop for anything, had no problems of any kind (dust storms, mechanical, etc, etc), and tried to drive as fast as possible", we might get there by Easter. Of course, that's a lot of if's. Still, it's impressive that a driver has that kind of confidence in Oppy.

Good god, James... I thought your Victoria pictures were good, but that's... stunning.