Time for another topic, me thinks.
figuring this "Perseverance Valley" thread should populate with said content...https://media.tenor.com/images/c314fb41103bbc10dcad0fd6e52fad0a/tenor.gif??
Here are some stereo views from http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04786/1P553076526EFFCZZ0P2375L2M1.html images of presumably water-carved topography downslope of the spillway
(ICE didn't deal well with the contrast scope so at left is anaglyph of 3 pairs, crosseye of left portion, crosseye of right portion, at right is a parellel of most lumpy section).
The pancam images for the past several days show a ground texture that looks like it is cemented together and really interesting textures. Maybe some of the image wizards can put these images together for all to see. We won't be getting too much back for a while, but channel already looks very interesting.
nice to see MI images being taken again http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04787/1F553164576EDNCZZ0P1121L0M1.html, these look set up to stitch for stereo pairs so heres the stitch and one of its sub-pairs in crosseye/anaglyph
OK Maybe not cemented, but some of these slabs look polished--almost like glacial polish. Does this look like polish by running water to any of you?
Hi floyd,
we have seen what a couple of million years of low density Mar's wind can do to 'fluted' rocks.
I think the environment there is alien enough that we cant quite appreciate the processes
On Earth you be hard pressed to find a dozen 'craters' due to fast (compared to mars) erosion (rain, winds, quakes, tectonics, oceans)
These could be stream cobbles or wind eroded ...
I am waiting on Grotzinger .et al to weigh in.
But it sure is fascinating! Awesome image!
See you around town, fellow Bostonian!
That surface does look a little different to my untrained eye. There is work to do here!
Perseverance Valley indeed seems to differ somewhat significantly in the bedrock and consistency of the soils, comparing relatively similar filter#2 views from http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04122/1P494113565EFFCO03P2437R2M1.html with its more pillowy bedrock and angular shards versus the more pebbly and sheared surface seen here in http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04791/1P553518604EFFCZZ0P2378R2M1.html.
That observation, at least in this very limited sampling, doesn't completely hold up when perusing a sampling of MI images at Marathon http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04131/1M494925669EFFCO97P2975M2M1.html vs Perseverance http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04787/1M553162964EFFCZZ0P2976M2M1.html, but still some interesting differences are apparent and despite the better focus and exposure of the more recently acquired MI, it seems like the muddier fines have been cleaned away here. I'm curious whether any of this owes to winds in each locale, inferring that here in Perseverance we might expect better solar panel cleaning events? since if seasonal patterns are consistent the images linked are just about 1 Mars year apart.
Different indeed.
I wonder if we're seeing the effects of a few tens or hundreds of millions of years of wind scouring on harder than usual bedrock.
We're starting to see some clouds as we head towards winter. Here's an navcam animation from 4793:
The road ahead.
The Pancam L2 images taken between Sol 4785 and Sol 4793 stitched together.
Jan van Driel
https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status.html#opportunity
Looks like Oppy has insisted on a two-week vacation during Solar Conjunction!
Catching up on some night sky imaging from 4784. Here's a stack of three frames to increase the S/N by sqrt(3):
Taurus, just below pointy end of the Hyades. Kinda random. A rare night comm pass allowed free astronomy, but no moons were up. Still useful as practice and will add a night opacity datum..
http://www.planetary.org/explore/space-topics/space-missions/mer-updates/2017/07-mer-update-opportunity-enters-perseverance-valley.html
Monthly MER Update from the Planetary Society. Also has a nice star photo.
I'm wondering what all the proper motion streaks are, especially the sideways ones. Meteors in the Mars atmosphere?
Thanks, Deimos.
Marsophile, the steaks directed from 11 o'clock to 5 o'clock are stars trailing during the exposure. Everything else should be cosmic ray hits.
Here's the field as calculated by Astrometry.net
( http://nova.astrometry.net/user_images/1693971#annotated )
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2017-08-04/1P555114370ESFCZZ0P2543L2M1.JPG
Near-perfect layering?
My guess is that it's an erosional texture as seen in the MI images from the same sol.
Phil
I guess, since oppy moved immediately after conjunction, the auto mode reset she had was no big deal.
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/navcam/2017-08-11/1N555729108EFFD000P1956L0M1.JPG
This image may provide some perspective on the channels and their relationship to the surrounding landscape.
http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04809/1M555116136EFFCZZ0P2936M2M1.htmlMI stitch, with bonus anaglyph highlighting the obligatory ICE stitching artifacts.
This is Jan's 4816 panorama reprojected into a roughly maplike geometry to give a view of the surroundings. The lower right (southeast) corner is still bad in this version. The tracks cross a small crater.
Phil
pretty good view down the 'cascades' http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/sol/04825.html cross/anag
Oppy is moving down into Perseverance Valley
Cant wait for the explanation about what we are looking at here....
What a "groovy" picture.
I concur. It IS groovy! Also it seems to contain some grooves. A stereo version will be particularly interesting.
Phil
a collection of sol4831 pancam crosseye/anaglyphs of http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04831/1P557073320EFFD048P2397R2M1.html, the http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04831/1N557073014EFFD048P1814R0M1.html, plus a http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04831/1P557070181EFFD000P2396L2M1.html of that from the previous http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/site/2080000.html.
downslope stereo view for http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04841/1P557961954EFFD0AKP2399L2M1.html
lengthly september edition of the http://www.planetary.org/explore/space-topics/space-missions/mer-updates/2017/08-mer-update-opportunity-ventures-deeper-into-perseverance.html goes into a lot of detail about driving and energy production challenges... plus a huge 15MB "http://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/images/mer_updates/2017-08/20170901_2-Parting-view-Perseverance-Valley-Sol4765B_P2360_1_L257atc.jpg" (why so-named?).
I've never heard much discussion regarding the current state of Oppy's battery charge capacity after all these years, here we are almost 14 years in now using workarounds to so many ageing issues, yet (mercifully) there seem no worries with the batteries!
here's a http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04843/1P558139150EFFD0AKP2403R2M1.html stitch anaglyph and crosseye of one section of the upslope dusk images
Possibly we are becoming blasé about Opportunity's performance, leaving the astounding achievement of the 45 kilometre mark unremarked. Looks like it is going to be a long slow winter for Opportunity with power generation hovering around 280 Watt hours at this time.
Thanks for reminding us, so Oppy slogs past another kilometerstone with no fanfare, not even in http://nmnaturalhistory.org/space-science/rover-field-reports-mars from last friday, i think thats equivalent to traversing about 70% around the entire Endeavor ridge, so i guess we got a while before we hit that one, i am perhaps too complacently confident that will happen! to help celebrate here is a stereo of the latest MI pairs from http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04857/1M559369578EFFD0AKP2936M2M1.html.
And thanks fredk, that info about the battery was very illuminating!
Sol 4859 Lpancam panorama:
https://flic.kr/p/YTWVBi
This new drive back uphill was discussed in the latest http://www.planetary.org/explore/space-topics/space-missions/mer-updates/2017/09-mer-update-opportunity-braves-winter.html
cross/anaglyph/parellel views of the in-place weathering exhibit http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04875/1P560978624EFFD0CLP2420L2M1.html
Oppy drove back uphill a bit in Perseverance Valley. Here is a stitch from Sol 4879 (10/15/2017?)
I ran it through a slight rinse in my De-Convolution Machine ...
Popping a wheelie with the RR wheel after a short bump on 4883:
Wow! That's radical. Don't think I've seen that before. I only see a trail from the wheel on the right. Was it pivoting?
The 4883 drive looks like a very short bump upslope, towards the direction we're looking in the image I posted. We're sitting almost exactly on our tracks from the downslope drive on 4831 (check Phil's map) and the obvious track is from that drive. It's harder to see the track from the other wheels I guess because of the bigger rocks on that side.
It's been awhile since I have worked on images.
Sol-4884
https://flic.kr/p/YB5De6
Full Resolution
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43581439@N08/37823285461/sizes/o/
Falsecolor
https://flic.kr/p/ZCje2p
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43581439@N08/37152962043/sizes/o/
Sol-4886
https://flic.kr/p/ZivS2C
Full Resolution
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43581439@N08/37610542750/sizes/o/
Sol-4859
https://flic.kr/p/ZivTGS
Full Resolution
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43581439@N08/37610548390/sizes/o/
Falsocolor
https://flic.kr/p/ZDuBdJ
Full Resolution
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43581439@N08/37836627742/sizes/o/
Sol's 4878-4880
I used the wonderful already generated ASU falsecolor images for this, just mosaiced them all together.
https://flic.kr/p/ZiNgEs
Full Resolution
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43581439@N08/37613744050/sizes/o/
Yes, James, thanks! I have been using your images to assemble a photomap base for more detailed mapping of this area. This is still an ad hoc mosaic, not controlled by HiRISE, but it will be warped to fit HiRISE control later, and then the detailed path can be plotted.
Phil
stitched sequence of lossy pancams from http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/sol/04924.html, ICE only being able to deal with ten of the 27 frames but at least gives a useful uphill view of the channel.
This is hideously distorted because I am not working from a topographic dataset to reproject the images - later, this will be projected onto HiRISE for control. But it gives an impression of the distribution of features around us in mid-December.
Phil
crosseye/anaglyph/parallel/parellel of cohesive regolith (pressed edge at lower right) taken from a pair of http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04941/1M566836574EFFD0IJP2956M2M1.html:
some cross/anag/parallel views of http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04942/1P566926793EFFD0IJP2370R2M1.html floater..
Sols 4937-4943 Lpancam:
https://flic.kr/p/22Fc3ZG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2017-12-21/1P567105039EFFD0IJP2372L2M1.JPG
Possible meteorite?
You mean those vesicular rocks? Doubtful. They look volcanic if anything, maybe scoria.
That said, I don't know if we've seen any igneous rocks around Meridiani before.
A fly around screen capture of a 3D model that I'm working on of the "San Miguel" small rock outcrop in the near-field and surrounding area.
https://youtu.be/ArXj4fHkGgM
Thanks James, those 3D interpolator results are really impressive to see and looks like it must be a pretty involved process.
Here is some comparably lo-tech stereo output (StereoPhotoMaker) of SanMiguel http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04947/1P567371784EFFD0IJP2374R2M1.html (cross/anaglyph/parallel) with its curious vesicles, it's interesting how the apparent 'spattering' of vesicles cover only a portion of the rock that otherwise is of apparently consistent composition throughout..
For me, it isn't that bad but for my computer that I built eight years ago, it sure does take a beating sometimes but it pulls through.
The Navcam mosaic on Sol-4934 and 4936.There was a big honkin lens flare that I had to remove in one of the frames. Spent a couple of hours on this, not sure how I feel about it. But I'll go with it.
https://flic.kr/p/21CZ79z
Full Resolution
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43581439@N08/38487228465/sizes/o/
nice job removing the http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04936/1N566386979EFFD0IJP1986L0M1.html, that must have left very little dynamic range to work with and explains what I at first thought was a field of ripples just above to the left of the low gain antenna post.
here's stereo of the channel http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/04952/1P567815105EFFD0IJP2379L2M1.html complete with banding artifacts compliments of ICE and my inability to get better results from Hugin without a lens profile...
Sols 4955-4956 Lpancam view:
https://flic.kr/p/22379d1
Taking the north fork?
http://merpublic.s3.amazonaws.com/oss/merb/ops/ops/surface/tactical/sol/4958/opgs/edr/ncam/1N568341955EFFD0J8P1824R0M_.JPG
Latest, most comprehensive update.
http://www.planetary.org/explore/space-topics/space-missions/mer-updates/2017/12-mer-update-opportunity-beats-winter.html
Sol 4950 Lpancam:
https://flic.kr/p/21URyQF
Sol 4961 Lpancam views:
https://flic.kr/p/21VV4MX
https://flic.kr/p/22duaHw
http://merpublic.s3.amazonaws.com/oss/merb/ops/ops/surface/tactical/sol/4968/opgs/edr/ncam/1N569224248EFFD100P0124L0M_.JPG
http://merpublic.s3.amazonaws.com/oss/merb/ops/ops/surface/tactical/sol/4968/opgs/edr/ncam/1N569224406EFFD100P0124L0M_.JPG
http://merpublic.s3.amazonaws.com/oss/merb/ops/ops/surface/tactical/sol/4968/opgs/edr/ncam/1N569224565EFFD100P0124L0M_.JPG
http://merpublic.s3.amazonaws.com/oss/merb/ops/ops/surface/tactical/sol/4968/opgs/edr/ncam/1N569224565EFFD100P0124R0M_.JPG
Is there a smudge on the Navcam left eye lens? Not visible in the right eye.
Yes - looks to be a new but of dust picked up on the optics. I'm currently on Paternity leave - but when I'm back on MER in a few weeks, I'll be attempting to acquire a set of NavCam flatfields using a technique already used on MSL that might end up being rather timely to calibrate this out.
Congratulations Doug and enjoy the family time.
It is not a bug, it is a feature. We got a nice cleaning event, about 100Wh more, so I'm not going to complain about it.
Paolo
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/navcam/2018-01-19/1N569669487EFFD100P1826L0M1.JPG
Sol 4973. Dark spot seems to be gone now. More cleaning?
And it is again: Happy Landing Day, Opportunity! It is unbelievable 14 years since landing in Meridiani Planum in the Eagle crater. 14 years, and still roving.
The rover has driven 45000 meters on the surface of mars. Currently it is the 4979th sol for Opportunity, and it is still functioning: hardware, batteries, software. Unbelievable!
And if no one notices: For Spirit it would be tomorrow the Sol 5000! (http://www.greuti.ch/oppy/html/filenames_ltst.htm)
Nice! And here is a rough projection of Navcam images of the current location (rough because it is not made using a DEM to remove relief distortions) to show the very interesting features here.
Phil
http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/space-science/rover-field-reports-mars
Thanks to Larry Crumpler, a new Rover Field Report from Mars - with a couple of new feature names.
Phil
This channel seems to have been pretty much swept clear of regolith including large rocks.
Hopefully more images come down for this over the next couple of sol's.
https://flic.kr/p/GoDVRE
Full Resolution
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43581439@N08/26510633948/sizes/o/
False Color
https://flic.kr/p/23aassn
Full Resolution
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43581439@N08/39485099545/sizes/o/
Thank you Olivier for the kind words.
I extended the Opportunity color image of the tracks with the single Navcam image that was taken during the "Selfie" for more context.
https://flic.kr/p/Gp4byQ
Full Resolution
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43581439@N08/26515171008/sizes/o/
My attempt at the tracks from 5002 (plus 4998 as a bonus). First piece of processing I've done in about a year!
https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/gallery/all/opportunity.html
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/
From the image download sites, it might appear that Opportunity is taking a vacation to celebrate its Sol 5000 anniversary!
At the time of this post, the JPL site has no new images since Sol 5000 and the Exploratorium site has no update since Feb 28.
On the other hand, although the amazonaws json site has no images for Sols 5007 through 5010, it continues with images from 5011 onwards.
I would guess the gap might be due to the recent MRO safing event.
It may be that the JPL and Exploratorium servers are waiting to get images for Sol 5007.
If so, that wait may be forever unless the servers are manually restarted.
Perhaps the servers could be programmed to probe forward to see if the image dumps continue after a gap.
I use the JSON site all the time these days. It has been updated to sol-5015 and waiting on the downlink of sol-5016 images.
https://merpublic.s3.amazonaws.com/oss/merb/images/image_manifest.json
Sol 5017 & 5018 Navcam panoramic. It's been a little time since no Opportunity images processing for me
http://www.db-prods.net/marsroversimages/Opportunity/2018/Sol5017_pano.jpg
Very nice panorama! This is a circular projection of it to show the location in a more map-like form.
Phil
Wider context of previous scene (bottom right).
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/navcam/2018-03-12/1N574103535EFFD1BQP1961L0M1.JPG
http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/05027/1M574469592EFFD1BQP2907M2M1.html
A RAT grind on sol 5027. The RAT is so worn that it is reserved for the highest priority targets, so this one must be quite compelling.
Phil
Mosaic of the RAT from Sol 5028.
http://www.db-prods.net/marsroversimages/Opportunity/2018/Sol5028_MI.jpg
Second RAT hole made by Opportunity
http://www.db-prods.net/marsroversimages/Opportunity/2018/Sol5033_MI.jpg
Check out the anaglyph version : http://www.db-prods.net/marsroversimages/Opportunity/2018/Sol5033_MI_ana.jpg
Here's a rough reprojection of Navcam images to show what this area looks like, with the tracks nicely laid out behind us.
Phil
Sol 5057 Navcam panoramic. A nice time to take a pano.
http://www.db-prods.net/marsroversimages/Opportunity/2018/Sol5057_pano.jpg
Very nice panorama.
Here is a different version roughly projected into a map to show the 5057 area. Opportunity moved towards the rocks in the bottom left (southwest) corner on sol 5058.
Phil
Huh. Wonder if the ring is aeolian deposition around a rock made of unusually soft material that weathered away over time.
Vaguely reminiscent of Spirit's "rotten rocks". Water altered rind remaining as the softer interior eroded.
Also reminiscent of this little beauty seen by Curiosity at Dingo Gap on sol 527:
http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MSL/image/00527/NRB_444283159EDR_F0260000NCAM00251M_.html
Phil
Curiosity has seen quite a few attributed to gas escape (akin to a small mud volcano or diapir) in a sedimentary environment. Finding one here would provide a few insights into Perseverance Valley. Half crippled, sensor limited, operating on a shoestring budget in the shadow of her bigger relation at Gale Crater, Opportunity just keeps on giving.
An outstanding update on Perseverance Valley on the Planetary Society page.
http://www.planetary.org/explore/space-topics/space-missions/mer-updates/2018/04-mer-update-special-perseverance-valley-lpsc-2018.html
Thanks for that link Serpens. Very enlightening.
The focus on the origin of Perseverance is understandable. The urge to explain this unique feature is what led them to this location. I would hope though that there would also be scope for Opportunity to live up to its name and do some opportunistic science that might have nothing to do with the origin.
In particular, I find the light-toned deposits on dark rocks fascinating. What is the chemistry of these deposits (as separate from the underlying rock)? Is there anything special about the distribution? Has this material blown down from Winnemucca plateau where there seems to be a large reservoir of the stuff? Is the composition essentially the same as the planet-wide wind-blown deposits? Perhaps some of the answers are to be found in the APXS results from the "Aguas Calientes" target. I guess we may have to await the next conference for those revelations.
Stereo views of "rotten rock" from 5073. Anaglyph:
I wonder whether the same textured, nearby rocks are fragments of the circular rim.
http://www.planetary.org/explore/space-topics/space-missions/mer-updates/2018/04-mer-update-2019-extension.html
The regular A.J.Rayl report for April.
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016GL072259
South Meridiani apparently hosted some of the valley networks that were formed before the Noachian/Hesperian boundary. If the impact that created Endeavour was into an existing fluvial system, I wonder if its location could explain the uniqueness of this section of the crater rim? Of course it would have been altered by subsequent processes but it might have influenced their evolution.
Sol 5078 Lpancam:
https://flic.kr/p/26SqMmm
Overlap ||-eye 3D from Sol 5079 MI images.
Very nice, Jan - We don't often see panoramas from Opportunity these days. Here is a circular view, lots of tracks visible.
Phil
Deimos transit animation from 5082:
Sols 5078 to 5082 Lpancam mosaic:
https://flic.kr/p/HrrMzX
Interesting. It seems that vesicular rocks are not vesicular when buried...
http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MERB/image/05083/1R579435455EFFD2FAP1311R0M1.html
Fun fact.......5083 I was on shift - and not only did we conduct the first NavCam 360 in a single Sol that I've seen in >a year of Ops - but it's in part thanks to a ExoMars TGO pass on which some of these frames came down!
Still trying to sneak in an upper tier to get a proper 360 without a Horizon cut-off. Hard to convince the science team to spend what bits we have on that.
What fascinates me is that Opportunity is showing us what was once the interior of jumbled, potentially overturned crater walls themselves made up of material from a Miyamoto ejecta blanket hundreds of metres thick. I look forward to seeing what the science team make of this particular jigsaw.
I'm working on the 360 color panorama, It will take me a little while to finish pending if any more images come down when Oppy is able to do so. So here is kind of a rough quick peek of what it will look like using just the L2 filter, and rescaled to 25% of original resolution.
https://flic.kr/p/26YwvD3
Link to download
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43581439@N08/41990153224/sizes/l
Some pebble and dust grain movement from the wind over 3 sol's. The rock (which I am nicknaming "Jason's Mask") also moved, but this is likely caused by grain evacuation from under and around the rock.
Download link
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43581439@N08/40912214570/sizes/o/
A HiRISE scaled Oppy in current position mapped to the Navcam view from sol 4682
https://flic.kr/p/275BrPy
Mods: are we going to discuss the dust storm and its aftermath in this thread or in the dust storm thread?
Good idea. Folks, I've now moved all the dust storm-related posts to the http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=8391. Keep posting image processing of images Opportunity returned to this thread, dust storm stuff over there. Best wishes to Oppy and the whole team that we'll have new images from Perseverance Valley to post here in the future.
Thanks Lyford.
Detail...
https://flic.kr/p/275BrkC
Here are some other context shots I made...[4k at source]
https://flic.kr/p/2887zPG
https://flic.kr/p/2777JrN
https://flic.kr/p/2887zxE
Wonderful renderings Sean!
I wanted to take my time on this one, in fact, it will probably make its way onto my living room wall. The last 360 panorama from Opportunity before contact was lost due to the storm and I'm hoping it won't be the last from the mission.
https://flic.kr/p/27egYjN
Full Resolution
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43581439@N08/42157063754/sizes/o/
False Color
https://flic.kr/p/27ehaTj
Full Resolution
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43581439@N08/42157102644/sizes/o/
Thanks James & excellent work as usual. I often use your images to help me get my bearings and plan compositions.
Super, Seán...great perspective, and a feeling of where the rover is. I feel an animation coming on (but, no presh!).
John Moore
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