As noted previously I have been attempting to coin a new unit of measure for the size of Endeavour; "The San Fernando Valley-sized crater" named after the region of Los Angeles that many JPL staff probably commute to and from. I think the rule is that it needs to appear in a press release or a news story for a unit of measure to achieve official UMSF sanctioned acceptance. Still hoping, fingers crossed.

So we are heading to Chatsworth?

I hope you are not going to imply that Oppy is now a "Valley Girl".

"OMG!!! Are those, like, you know, phyllosilicates??? That's, like, totally tubular!!!"

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Ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to announce the departure of Opportunity from Santa Maria crater...

And the navcam thumbnails pointing south.
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Flat and featureless everywhere.

No, wait! What's on this pancam? A meteorite perhaps?
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BTW, the next drive is tomorrow, sol 2549.

On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again.

Imaginary HiRISE view of Oppy's departure, based on Tesh's .kml file. Rover scale is correct.

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You realize of course, we are now going to expect you to do that the rest of the way.

I'll do it for every meteorite we stop at...

Larger version of that last pic up on my blog, if anyone wants a look:
http://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com/2011/...ell-santa-maria

Use to live in the Valley. Picturing Oppy driving from Chatsworth to North Hollywood kinda puts in in perspective.

Sigh... ***hate*** it when the image pipeline dries up like this, leaving us with only the itty-bitty "stamp" images to tease and torment us...

...but from those, it looks like "Escobar" could be a very interesting chunka rock...

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Best I can do with what's available...

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When I was a boy we used to DREAM of itty-bitty "stamp" images from Mars. The ones we had were so small that we were able to give names to each of the pixels. So don't you be going on about your torment, young man. Be glad for what you've got!

I know, I know... and I'm not being ungrateful, really I'm not. I too remember the days when we had to rely on astronomy mags to show us pics MONTHS after they were taken. It's just *brilliant* timing that the pipeline jams on the *exact* day Oppy leaves Santa Maria and begins her long trek to Endeavour, isn't it? Like the photographer missed Columbus' ships leaving port because his batteries ran out.

Not that there was a photographer. But you know what I mean.

There wasn't a photographer on the Columbus trip? Oh crap. I got taken by the book of photos then. They seemed so real especially the one where the first mate was standing behind Christopher making horns over his head.

Closer view...

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One thing missing in the comparison to the SF Valley is a million other rovers stuck in traffic.

Exploratorium's back!
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol2547
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol2549

I like this area:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...2M1.JPG?sol2549

Looks like ejecta blocks from SM:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...2M1.JPG?sol2549

...and how...!

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Rough 'n ugly Santa Maria departure panorama...

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Fond farewell...

Maybe it's because we're on the road again, but, this spot is just lovely...(Ejecta heaven)...

Rodrigo de Escobar...

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... and in 3D...

http://twitpic.com/4efvqa

Mhoward's farewell pan in circular form...

Phil

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I wanted a desktop version. 100 degree field of view or thereabouts. (If you can do a better job on the sky, have at it. There's a raw version on my flickr page.)

A colourised version for good measure....goodbye SM! Nice knowing you
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Not this time.

Looks like the twin peaks and yogi from pathfinder.

Does look like Yogi, doesn't it?

There was discussion a while ago of a low region just to the SE of Santa Maria. We're definitely in it now, as you can tell from how little we can now see of the rim of Endeavour.

Compare this view of the N rim "twin peaks" from when we arrived at SM:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...J3P2297R2M1.JPG
with this recent view:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...2M1.JPG?sol2552

And the far E rim with it's famously unnamed crater:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...J3P2297R2M1.JPG
is now just barely peeking above the horizon:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...2M1.JPG?sol2552

I expect we'll climb back out of this low in a couple of drives when we make it to the exposed bedrock area ahead.

I still think this is a really cool area:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...2M1.JPG?sol2551

Another "not claiming it's accurate, it's just meant to be pretty, ok?!?!" rendering of a sunrise seen by Oppy as she heads for Endeavour...

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PS. Brilliant comparisons, Fred, really dramatic differences.

I like this area as well.





P.S. Nice, Stu, very nice.

And it is Stu. It is! Thanks.

David

Animated those changes Fred, thanks again for pointing them out...

north rim: http://roadtoendeavour.files.wordpress.com...ation-n-rim.gif

east rim: http://roadtoendeavour.files.wordpress.com...ation-e-rim.gif

( taken from http://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com/2011/...e-hills-at-last )

As of 2554, we've almost made it to the stretch of bedrock, and we can see more of the rim of Endeavour again:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol2554
A bit farther and we'll get a closeup look at the "darkened terrain" mhoward pointed out a long time ago.

Just one more 100m drive and we might already see examples of that dark terrain.

Hooray!

Whether or not it's anything interesting, what a rush to finally be here.

What do you all make of this rather cryptic tweet from Scott? The smiley throws me. This week's Opportunity update notes that there has been a "small increase" in motor currents in the RF wheel. I'd think that any event that prompts the imaging of the wheel is likely to be bad news. So what's up with the smiley?

Could it possibly be that he suspects the RF wheel is turning again (or has turned)?

hmmm a cryptic tweet

If you look at the kapton cable wrapping - that FR strut has done a bit of shedding since conjunction. Or maybe the fact that we're cleat-down and a pile of dust built up 'behind' it that might slip and slide overnight.

We'll see tomorrow!

Well Oppy's back in Maxwell-motion mode again.
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...WJP1201R0M1.JPG

That means that she's covering extra metres and that's a good sign.

I read a paper somewhere about that motion not being good for the rover and having the potential to cause the kapton tape on moving parts to unravel.

Thanks for those updates here, just good to know (what's going on )

I think Scott's talking about the JPL logo on the inside of the wheel. I can't recall seeing that before...but then I've not been looking closely at the wheel while the view has been so spectacular!

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Fantastic. I had forgotten about the dark areas that you had spotted. There is little doubt in my mind that it will be something interesting. I'll be holding my breath for the next hundred meters or so.

One thing about the area, though; it appears to be riddled with an intricate network of Anatolia-like fractures. It looks like some pretty dangerous driving to me.

On the topic of the kapton tape peeling, I threw together a (very) rough animation of the peeling over the past couple years.

I have little love for kapton. It's very good insulation, but not very durable over time.

Climbing up out of the local "dip"... The Crater is almost back in view...

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