It’s finally time for a new thread. THE thread, I would say.
It is now sol 2681 and after virtually one thousand sols, beginning on 1683 when Opportunity left Victoria for good, and also after more than 21km driving on these flat fields, this little rover and obviously the brave mission’s people behind, made landfall on Cape York.
A bunch of pictures and thumbnails are already on the ground (should be public in an hour or so) and the very limited data we can gather for the time being are just enough to guess a drive of around 60m. I’ve prepared a new picture to use as a map to follow this part of the mission and which I will update, as usual, on the route map thread once more data are available. Here’s a copy of it.
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Use this thread for comments, discussions, mosaics, images result of activities at / after sol 2681 and keep using the Post Conjunction: Santa Maria to Cape York, The Journey to 'Spirit Point' thread for posts related with stuff from before sol 2681.

Welcome to Cape York and hello Odyssey crater!

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WOW, just WOW!

...and the navcam

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Unglaublich!

Fantastic!
- 1000 Sols, and now we are here!
- The panorama is one of the best we ever had: We are on Cape York, see inside the Odyssey crater, with marvellous blocks and rocks, see the far crater wall of Endeavour in perfect sharpness, see the central mound ever than before.
- The pics cam down 9:35, and four minutes later we have a panorama from Astro0. Unbelievable.
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...G3P2385R2M1.JPG
- WOW, WOW, WOW


Are we there yet?
We are there, yet!

Interesting feature...there is a thin line of very bright material in this navcam view, bottom left

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...G3P0653L0M1.JPG

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I would have been faster but the phone rang!

The ground underfootwheel looks different (from the last 1000 sols or so!).

Front and Rear Hazcams
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What a day! Fantastic images! I am looking forward to more.

Unbelievable that Opportunity made it this far.

Congratulations to the rover team and everyone else involved!

Michael

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Breathtaking!

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It's like the summit of Husband Hill, Victoria crater all over again, or heck, even landing day!

And the details on Endeavour's central mound-peak-thing...

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Those rocks and the background!

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Can't get over that background! I've been wrong so many times, but that must be the big rock as seen on the HiRISE. It looks like a frog from this angle.

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What a wonderful set of images tonight!

Just one more to satisfy my inner artist before I head home.
Pancam of Odyssey Crater with added sky.

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Congratulations to the entire MER team. YOU ROCK!

Wow. Dare I say this is the most impressive vista Opportunity's eyes ever saw during the mission?

Absolutely fantastic !!! The landscape is gorgeous. It's really like a whole new mission.
I'm very excited by these bright lines of minerals in front of Oppy. Can't wait to know what it is.
And let's go to sniff the phyllos !!!
Again, congrats to all the MER team !

I agree, this is (yet another) landing day! And there are only 2 places to be: JPL and/or here on UMSF.
Thanks to MER team and to UMSF team.

Just one more for tonight:

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Extraordinary. It's like looking down at a shore of a great lake.

Congrats to all the engineers, scientists, rover drivers, everyone who had a hand in this!

It looks so different at ground level, as we finally left the pavement we've been on for so long. Just look at those little tilted strata poking through at different angles, and the white "veins" already commented on.

And Cape York had almost no topography at all... we just drove right over it! The tone differences in the orbital photos we were speculating on gave a false impression of relief that did not exist. Quite a lesson in photo-interpretation.

Phil, I think you will still be impressed by the veiw of CY from the south, but not quite in the vertical way you thought?!

Anyway, I must also add my congratulations to the MER team on arrival. It made the BBC radio news in the UK. This place is like a whole new world...

The perfect new mission--fantastic views plus fantastic science targets--together at Spirit point. Well done MER team!!!!

Even in the navcam view we don't see anything from Spirit Point. But I think they will make a photograph from it, later.

I suspect they will want to pull up just a bit closer, to where they can sniff at some of that material, while at the same time take one of those superpans to give themselves a big layout from which to plan the overall scientific program.

Here is the anaglyph of the sol 2681 Pancam view. The perspective is really impressive !

fun-fun-fun

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7994641@N08/6028291841/sizes/l/in/photostream/ ://http://www.flickr.com/photos/799464...n/photostream/

Here we go

wOW

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...G3P0653R0M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...G3P2385L2M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...G3P2385L2M1.JPG

Looking at this bedrock reminds me of sedimentary rock here in my backyard..the way they are stacked makes them remarkably similar to what I see on my sedimentary island in the med.....planet earth and i'm no geologist!!

Just amazing !





Astro0, with an extended sky it gave us an other dimension .

I just wonder what that white streak represents??

Magnificent.... new mission on new terrain!

Craig

What a thing to wake up to!!!

Wish I had more time, but gotta go to work. Congratulations to the entire MER team!!!

Impressive view of the central mound!

Makes you wonder what we might see at Gale Crater....

WOW! Now its obvious why this cater's name is Odyssey.
Did you know before that Odysseus voyage from Troy to Ithaca led through Meridiany Planum?
His side face is nicely visible at top center of this picture .

Phil checking in from Medford, Nova Scotia (where the red sandstone cliffs and beach sand of the Minas basin look a bit like Victoria crater) - fantastic! This is a real treat.

Phil

Congratulations to all the team! What a journey and what a destination!

http://opportunityendeavour.blogspot.com/2...ject-level.html

Matt does realize he might not be shaving for several years right?

It's a bit like the first time you drive to the edge of the Grand Canyon and get out of the car. Nothing to say or do for now other than to just stare in awe.

2681 Pancam:

Exactly. I never thought we'd make it. I even said trying was silly.

Never happier to be wrong.

Wow.

I have to say that this anaglyph and crop that walfy made is my favorite of the first day here at Cape York. I come from a day before panoramas when photography of vistas consisted of climbing over rocks and standing with one foot on a ledge to find the best composition of foreground/background that would fit in one frame. If we don't get a full set of filters of these pans I plan on adding color to this one.

Sol 2681 Navcam, facing east. (Sorry for the delay, it takes awhile to stare at these.)

Speaking of which, here's a version of the Pancam anaglyph focused on the rocks - it may work better.

Yeah - I'll second or third (or probably beyond) that. Really obvious in the raw Navcams, and right behind us. (In other words, a short drive would put it in front of us...)

Just got back from work. Did I miss anything?

It does have that Greek statue look to it. Let's see if the likeness holds up at different angles.
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Wow. I mean holy &*^^#*** (*&&*## $)*#.

Somebody get the swear jar.

I think it's clear what this means. Ladies and gentlemen, a new mission has just landed successfully on a completely new part of Mars. Congratulations to the EDL team on what must be the smoothest landing ever!

It's been so long since we've been able to say what the *&%^ is that?! Seeing these bright veins takes me back to seeing the blueberries for the first time.

Wow.

In this sedimentary environment I can't imagine it being anything other than what we came for. Which tells me the streak will likely get wider as Opportunity climbs higher, ultimately tracing back to a large deposit of similar material on top of the nearest summit.

Absolutely stunning, and already looking forward to the next master pan...and master plan...

We've been driving over featureless terrain for so long that it's really going to be hard to sit still and savor the surroundings. I can only imagine the excitement in the Mission Room as they once again have to strategize over "what do we look at first?"

Reminds me of when I was in college - my dad and I drove across the US and back in 9 days. It was supposed to be a leisurely trip, but it quickly became "how far can we drive in one day?" It got so ridiculous that we couldn't wait for half an hour in Yellowstone to see the next eruption of Old Faithful, because it would have cut into our drive time.

I'm ecstatic that Oppy made it to Endeavour. Even if we sit still for weeks at a time, the view will be worth it. I don't think I've been so excited about the view since we were at Burns Cliff 2400 sols ago!