Well, my impression is that the trek south, crossing by the east side of Cape York, has started.
Here's a crude navcam mosaic taken on sol 3040. Don't you think this side of the planet is also beautiful?
Click to view attachment

That looks like the next little crater south of the Creek.

Phil

Exactly!

We're about 800m or half a mile (as Oppy flies) to Botany Bay.

Here's the "drive direction" pancam mosaic from sol 3040. Path clear.
Click to view attachment

Cape York seems somehow... diminished. The flashiness of Gale has spoilt me for other parts of Mars!

Re drive direction. I don't know if they are little cliffs or just rocks but some interesting features can be already seens ahead.

One of the reasons Gale was choosen, and I am sure it was a pretty low down on the list reason...., was the shear spectacular scenery Joe Public could get excited about at Gale.

Still Endeavour is nice and when we climb up a bit it will get better.

'Diminished'? Hmmm. Tempting maybe to feel that way when we're suddenly faced with a jagged and undulating horizon curving around us, and a towering mountain looming right ahead of us, compared to the gentler hills and slopes of Endeavour. But if you catch yourself feeling that way just remember what Oppy went through to get here. Remember the trials and tribulations she overcame to reach this place. Remember her Lewis and Clark trek across Meridiani, driving from crater to crater, increasingly thick with dust. Then think of the months ahead for Oppy - driving down the flank of Cape York, then rolling off the Cape and across Botany Bay to the foot of Cape Tribulation, and then up...and up... until she's looking down on Endeavour, the crater she was never meant to reach.

Then, trust me, the magic of Endeavour will return to you...

Then too, Opportunity has a fair chance to spot clay minerals before Curiosity.

^ Yeah! I actually didn't think "diminished" so much as, "It's awesome that we're seeing these two fantastic crater vistas at the same time."

Just a little humour really. Endeavour still has its not inconsiderable charms. I remain rightly astonished that a machine that all good sense told us would spend a few months trundling around around a sports stadium sized patch of one of the flattest places on Mars is now completely outside its landing ellipse and chasing clay minerals in the rim of a 20km crater with more hilliness than her EDL system was deemed suitable for. Long may whichever Martian deities smile on her continue to do so!

And that's a monster-sized MER landing ellipse, not one of those tiny MSL ones!

I love this parting shot of the creek:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol3041

The recent drives seem to really bring out the crater rim. Seems a bit more distinctive then recent Pancam shots. Would be interesting to see the color composites from 3040+ of the area.

That's a good one. Here's a x-eye view...
Click to view attachment

and here's one across the crater to show that Endeavour can stand comparison with Gale...
Click to view attachment

It looks like a drive SSE to the next little crater on 3042:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol3042

That's a nice one... do we have names for these two craters yet?

Phil

The one spot on sol 3040 was named "São Rafael". This last one just N of the current site has no name yet on the DB.

Our first look at the east-facing outcrops on the inboard side of CY:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...6M1.JPG?sol3043
These are the kind of outcrops where the clays will hopefully be found, though probably farther south.

Darn it, now that the scenery begins to look interesting I'm on the side of the planet that looks a pancake! :-(

Paolo

A bit more of a drop off than I expected. And that ever-shining beacon of a rock outcrop on the distant mountain!

Click to view attachment

Some more info about the craters in the vicinity. This last one, seen on sol 3042, was named "Bérrio" so now it's clear that São Gabriel, São Rafael, and Bérrio were named after the ships of Vasco da Gama's armada on his first voyage to India.
Click to view attachment

Agreed. And dead centre in your anaglyph we can see what looks like another mini Whim Creek feature - a "notch" aligned roughly along the circumference of Endeavour:
Click to view attachment
If you use your imagination, you can find other similar features farther south.

I recall from CRISM data that there should be phyllosilicates somewhere along the eastern rim of Cape York. How far would Opportunity be from this point in reaching such rocks? Anyone has any idea?

The crism data is pretty low resolution, so the estimates I've heard are very roughly half way down CY.

a couple hundred metres away?

Colour view of the east-facing outcrops...

Click to view attachment

Go get 'em Oppy...

Wow, it's going to get very interesting if Curiosity examines rocks from those time periods while Oppy is looking at equivalent examples a great distance away.

It might be that we have already reached outcrops with some phyllosilicates, but the signatures are too weak to be detected by CRISM. The outcrop in view now seems to bear some similarity to those further down.

Here are some rocky outcrops on Cape York (Sol 3043) as Oppy and JPL continue the exploration southward at Endevour Crater. The dusty red draped rocks are very inviting...

Click to view attachment

... In the lower center, is that a gypsum precipitate ?

That would be my guess, too. I've seen a couple of gypsum veins on this leg of the traverse.

Interesting outcrop area.

--Bill

The east side of CY is turning out to be very scenic:
Click to view attachment

Stu SS and I just spend a good 10 minutes in awe at this image. Really cool!

Paolo

Wow, thanks Paolo, great to know that!

I'd say thank you for those images also. I do appreciate your work guys!

Maybe a meteorite?
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol3046
It's been a while since we've encountered one.

Maybe. Could be a whole lot of other more mundane things, though. Wonder if they'll think it's worth a stop.

Hide it, quick, quick, before Stu notice it
Anyway, looking at Eduardo's map, it seams we already passed the outcrop area. Doesn't mean we cannot get back there since SS and Paolo...

Too late, already seen it and already planning to add it to the "Meteorites of Meridiani" collection over at the Road to Endeavour Meteorite Museum!

Not really. That picture is from a new position (yesterday's drive) which is not yet on the map. Tactical decisions about what to do next will not be taken until tomorrow.

Here's the navcam mosaic of this nice site. A meteorite(?) ahead and a gypsum vein just behind.
Click to view attachment

BTW, this was a loooong 100m drive!

SS was SOWG chair on Friday. I wonder if this has anything to do with it

Paolo

Added a little more drama by rotating Tesheiners by 6.5 degrees, so that the far horizon is flat. I think Oppy is driving on the steep slope of Cape York, so this view may give a hint how it is feeling to stand there.

EDIT: Why does this meteorite not roll down?

Article on Opportunity, including pic of Ashley Stroupe planning a drive.

Curiosity is new Mars star, but Opportunity's still knocking

I think you've answered the question yourself - 5 or 10 degrees is not very steep.

Here's the L2 panorama from sol 3044.

Click to view attachment

A drive sol on 3049. If this is another 100m+er they'll put themselves about halfway down Cape York.

Now that Oppy is rolling again, she's getting close to 35km total odometry. That's 95% of the current 37km record for the longest distance of surface travel of any extra-terrestrial vehicle, set by the Russian rover Lunokhod 2 in 1973.

This quick sketch (cropped from a NASA Geological Map) shows that Oppy will reach 36km around Nobby's Head, and set a new record somewhere near the base of Solander Point.

Although Oppy has just raced over 100m/sol, putting the record in theory within 20 sols, there's bound to be interesting targets along the way. An average of 25m/sol means the record will be broken on sol 3130. Anyone else care to hazard a guess?

Click to view attachment

By the way, I do hope that breaking this record is on the list of remaining targets for Oppy to achieve. She richly deserves to hold this distance record, and it throws the gauntlet down to Curiosity just as her own wheels start to roll.

Thank you Antonb. For the one that looks for more infos, see in "Statistics thread (post #223)": http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...3705&st=210