sol3963 there seem to be two distinct crumble piles. Likely ancient basaltic ejecta remnants ballistically emplaced atop an eroded crater from a far earlier epoch?
Click to view attachment
Its odd Spirit O' St. Louis has the oblong shape (teardrop down into Marathon valley) in the overhead view, though that may be just sand drift suggestion, but such a drift isnt readily apparent in the Pancam stitch.
Click to view attachment

The Navcam L0 panoramic view on Sol 3962-3963.

Jan van Driel

Click to view attachment

Thanks, Jan - what a view! Here it is in circular format, and it looks like a nice easy drive down to the valley.

Phil

Click to view attachment

I wonder if we might first drive closer to the edge of the little valley to our west:

Click to view attachment

Sol 3965 pancam:
Click to view attachment

Nope! We're now perched just outside Spirit of St. Louis and just above the head of Marathon Valley:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol3966

I put up a route map.. and then replaced it with a better version. I wonder if we did a drive-by of the big rock? - or Fredk's valley?

Phil

Mike Seibert often posts these route maps on his twitter- don't know if you've seen his feed before.
Click to view attachment

Edit: from your correction it looks like you've seen it. Here is your map and his planning tool overlain- the rock and valley are called out as hazard areas.
Click to view attachment

The view from sol 3965 in colour

Anticitizen - yes, I use that when I see it, it's very useful. Thanks, Mike!

Phil

They're part of the image stream posted to the free 'Mars Images' app

Sol 3965 in 3D... Enjoy !
Click to view attachment

Sol 3966: anaglyph of the "rubble pile":
Click to view attachment

Sol 3967 pancam anaglyph:
Click to view attachment

The Navcam L0 view on Sol 3966.

Jan van Driel

Click to view attachment

sol3967 Panaglyph
Click to view attachment

Spirit of St. Louis in colour:

In false colour it seems most likely that a hefty chunk of ejecta was deposited in Spirit of St. Louis some time ago.

My own version of the view taken by Opportunity on Sol 3967...
One of the nicest views of the entire mission with its 'romantic' pile of rocks.
Enjoy !
Click to view attachment

It looks like we've driven around SSL and are close to the bright outcrop to its SW:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0M1.JPG?sol3968

The Navcam R0 view on Sol 3968.

Jan van Driel

Click to view attachment

gratifying, i thought it was all speed ahead into the abyss but was hoping they would detour to check the curious bright splotch out.
i cant quite fully make sense of SSL crater, if indeed an impact crater, theres something begging to be unravelled here..
Click to view attachment

Given the apparent level of erosion is it possible that we are actually looking at the bottom of a transient crater surrounded by shocked target rock

Circular view... the crater shows up well like this. As suggested, I expect this is an erosional remnant of a crater which formed in a layer several meters above the current surface and is now long gone.

Phil

Click to view attachment

Added 2 images to complete the R0 Navcam view on Sol 3968.

Jan van Driel

Click to view attachment

The Rover team has successfully reformatted the flash memory: NASA Reformats Memory of Longest-Running Mars Rover

The Navcam L0 view on Sol 3970.

Jan van Driel

Click to view attachment

I think many here will get a kick out of the strategic plan map in Crumpler's latest blog post.

Ha ha, at first I thought those were Sol numbers, and wondering WHAT was going now. Now I realize those are years! Onwards Opportunity!

Never bet against Opportunity!

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...c=7045&st=0

I love that map! <g>

Click to view attachment

As you can see from the zoomed-in image from Crumpler's blog, the Spirit of Saint Louis is elliptical and symmetrical, suggesting a low-angle impact (if the current eroded exposure faithfully reflects the original crater). What's interesting is the position of Lindbergh -- it's not along the axis of the Spirit of Saint Louis. Is Lindbergh genetically related to the crater or coincidental to it? The simplest explanation for Lindbergh would be a particularly resistant clump of breccia, but it could surprise us.

This xkcd comic shows the long long term plan for Opportunity

The Navcam L0 Panoramic view on Sol 3969-3970.

Jan van Driel

Click to view attachment

What a great view! Here it is as a circular projection:

Click to view attachment

Phil

I wonder if this says something significant about the different outlooks required for success in each field. Engineers who design mechanical systems designed to operate without human intervention for long spans of time need to be very conservative to get worthwhile results. Whereas for all the rigour and empiricism involved in science there is definitely a hefty dash of 'throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks, you can always write another paper.'

Sol 3973 pancam anaglyph:
Click to view attachment
Love this "out of this world" (literally) scenery.

Opportunity has suffered a new amnesia problem:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4528

I'm wondering if there is some reason why bank 7 was affected more than the others.

Is it the case that bank 7 would have been subject to more writes than the other banks, so that it might wear out more quickly?
If so, would bank 6 be next in line?

Spirit of St. Louis on 3973

The black rind on some of the rocks in the spirit of St. Louis rubble piles are amazing---could they be meteorite surface fragments from the impact????

My color interpretation of Sol 3973 images...
One of the most scenic views of the whole mission !
And a tribute to the MER team for this incredible "Marathon" feat !
Enjoy !
Click to view attachment

Here is the complete Navcam L2 panoramic view taken on Sol 3966 and Sol 3967.

Jan van Driel

Click to view attachment

The mosaic from the north side of Spirit of St. Louis from 3967 is now all down.

Here are some imaging variations on Sol 3968 picture of 'Marathon Rock' a la Warhol...
It stands there as an headstone, to help our Cartographer-in-Chief, Phil Stooke, to pinpoint the Marathon length !
Enjoy
Click to view attachment

SUPERBE, James (and also for your Sol 3967 mosaic) !
Thanks so much for sharing this nice work with us

A come back ? I don't know. From time to time I enjoy doing some Postcards like this Sol 3973 pancam panoramic filled with a little bit of sky.

How nice ! Thanks a lot, Damia !!!

Absolutely gorgeous! No one sets the scene quite the way you do, Damia. It's appreciated!

The Navcam L0 view on Sol 3987.

Jan van Driel

Click to view attachment