Positioning for RAT work?
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol2608

Edit: Looks like it. From the latest update:

It looks like Opportunity is auditioning for Mystery Science Theater.

Am I right in thinking they've passed the 30km mark?

Not yet. This last move was quite small, only 0.5m, and there are still 90m to go before reaching the 30km mark.

This could be the target area...

Click to view attachment

looks like it has those indents left by eroded crystals

Yup - looks quite Vuggy.

Even more so in enhanced-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life 3D...

http://twitpic.com/538jcg/full

I'm on the verge of getting a new dog. That sounds like a good name -- Vuggy.

Oh, cool, bluesberries ... still found after 7 years

Every image - even if it shows things we've seen before - is a gift, MI, especially now we're a rover down.

Animation of sunset, Sol 2597 (Sun May 15th...)

Click to view attachment

Very nice!
I'm looking forward to raw images!

You got it, Stu. Some pancams returned today from the ejecta field around Skylab:
Click to view attachment

I'm glad to see this sequence of pancams to finally start coming down. The rock with what appeared to be interesting laminations is a little further to the right of that image, but only 2 of 8 images have come down so far.

I am curious about the 8x1 Skylab panorama. There should be 4 filters (L257R2) times 8 images, or 32 full frame images in all. Why is the pancam site counting only 26?

Wow, well spotted Fred, I would never have found those if you hadn't pointed them out...

Had a bit of a clean-up... this is...was...a pretty stunning collection of rocks...

http://twitpic.com/53sh8l/full

Looking at the stamps it looks like only 5 of the images were taken in colour the other 3 were just L2/R2. Looks like the colour bit covers all the actual crater though.

Here are the colour mosiacs taken of the Mercury Cluster.

Sigma 7


Friendship 7


Freedom 7


All images link to same blog entry

James

LOL

thank you James.
brilliant color balancing again !
I espacially like that Sigma-7 image whose colors have exacty the "Mars-like-reddish" hue that I exepct it to really look like

Here you go, Rocker:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...2M1.JPG?sol2595
And an anaglyph version:
Click to view attachment

A nice dune among rocks:

Click to view attachment

Thanks, fredk. It helps a lot to see that rock in 3D.
It doesn't look nearly as convoluted as it did in the navcams.

A recent Mars Daily article has a picture captioned "Opportunity makes tracks". What causes the pattern of short imprints to the sides? Did she really stop and turn a dozen times at such regular intervals?

It's been discussed on this forum multiple times.

here for example.

Thanks, H4I. Autonav produces an interesting 'footprint'!

That set of rocks exhibits a lot of small-scale trough cross-bedding and ripple cross-lamination. The rock you and fredk are talking about looks like it has rib-and-furrow structure, which is a horizontal section through those types of cross bedding. Here are some terrestrial examples:

rib-and-furrow

rib-and-furrow

rib-and-furrow

Oh, very funny, chopping the tops of the hills off like that when we're all panting to make new colour pics of them...

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...00P2421L5M1.JPG

Mosaic of Valdivia MI's...

Click to view attachment

Full size: http://twitpic.com/54oyir

Wow, that's a very funky texture!

I agree, Emily. Could you please put on your geologist hat & do some (informal, of course) instant science? This doesn't look like your garden-variety vuggy surface to me; seems like the substrate is slightly more solid then what we've seen before.

Skylab crater

What would these crystals look like if they were still in place in the rock?

I believe that is what is referred to on 'teh internets' as FAIL!

Anyway, it's still worth stitching:

3D view of Valdivia's funky textured ( © E Lakdawalla 2011 ) surface...

http://twitpic.com/54r38v/full

I have no idea if the missing crystals were gypsum,
but these crystals with matrix removed do
look like they would fit nicely into the Meridiani specimen
of matrix with crystals removed.
Click to view attachment
Gypsum, without associated rock matrix.
Size: 5 1/4" wide, 3 3/4" high, 3" thick.
http://www.minresco.com/special/spec3.htm

mmm interesting.

I thought they might have looked sparkly and gem like

More examples of gypsum crystals that look like they would fit nicely into the Meridiani vugs.
Click to view attachment

That's very good centsworth. I don't know if it pins down the mineral because I don't know if there are other minerals that do similar things in sandy environments with who-knows-what chemistry, but I think you've highlighted a very plausible general explanation.

Can I just say how much I love this place? A picture gets posted, people look at it, suggest explanations and theories, hunt down pics of their own, post them, the discussion moves on...

An alternative hypothesis:
MERIDIANI PLANUM VUGS AS A CONSEQUENCE OF ICE CRYSTAL FORMATION FOLLOWED BY THAW AND DESICCATION
Click to view attachment

Every time I see these vugs I am struck by how similar they appear compared to the ice crystals in mud I often saw in the winter in the midwest. From what I have read, sulphate crystals seem to be the top contender for the formation of these vugs, though. By the way, there is a free electronic book about fossil ice crystals that contains some photos and sketches that look very much like the vug patterns in these rocks.

I can't help but wonder how the team targeted this outcrop. There is no way they could have seen the vugs from any distance, but it seems that they knew exactly what they were going for before Opportunity got there.

When we first saw these vugs I was hoping that the MIs would show them filled with some hydrated sulfate mineral. That would have been an interesting way to discover the polyhydrated sulfates that are supposed to appear as we approach Endeavour.

As a former beach bum they remind me of seagull footprints in the sand.

Easy - use the last two drives before the Memorial Day weekend to arrive at the 'next' piece of outcrop. Stop. Do science for 3 days.

I'm guessing this means that all (or most) of the outcrops around here have similar vugs. I don't think they somehow honed in on the only one that had vugs.

Gumdrop Crater


James

Awwwwwww. It's cute.

In retrospect, I think that is the only explanation that makes sense. My comment was prompted by the earlier rover update that stated that they had seen an outcrop 40 meters ahead upon which they intended to do some in situ work.




I hadn't thought about that, but undoubtedly the holiday weekend had a lot to do with it.

Great color renders of late, it's like we're re-united with your filters again

With the precedent of Skylab, I'm assuming Gumdrop is also named after a manned spacecraft -- the Command Module half of Apollo 9.

Monolith on our tail:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol2608