Can somebody post the bigger picture to show exact location of Curiosity within Gale Crater?

What about trace gas orbiter? Insight should also detect tectonic activity if the methane has a geological source. In the absence of any activity, it may be interpreted as boosting the idea of methane arising from a biological source.

Is the brown colour of lunar soil accurate? Is it dependent on lighting conditions on sun angle over horizon?

. No disrespect to Squyres, but I can already imagine drone flying over titan lakes and magic Island plus extra miles of vistas to image and investigate. This is too good to let go and yes to me is definitely more compelling than the comet sampling mission.

This mission should easily top the list. Titan here we come!

It might be premature to ask but any working hypothesis as to the origin of Rubin ridge?

Time for another topic, me thinks.

Time for a new topic in line with Curiosity's new location.

The consensus up to now seems to have been that sulphate minerals tend to rest on top of more ancient clay minerals and has been interpreted as reflecting a climatic change on Mars from neutral water environment to a time when the planets water turned acidic indicating a drier environment. The finding of jarosite at Pahrump hills and lack of clay minerals sandwiched if you like between abundant clay containing Yellowknife bay rocks and abundant clays found in Murray buttes would seem to contradict this . Any thoughts about this?

The channel being ancient as it is would have accumulated a lot of dust and therefore I presume that the rover is going to have a difficult time to reach any minerals which would have been deposited by the water which formed the channel.

Plume activity on Europa would indicate a link between an underlying ocean and the surface. That would perhaps favour the thin ice model versus the thick ice model for Europa which I believe has been an ongoing controversy in Europa science for the past 30 years or so.

[quote name='JRehling' date='Feb 25 2017, 11:45
Suppose that tidal locking means no magnetic field – then the planets may lose their H2O and go the path of Venus or something equally dead.

[/quote]
Could you explain more why tidal locking means no magnetic field?

My main concern is the numerous sand dunes which could render the movement of the rover across the crater floor somewhat difficult up to the the delta river deposit. Otherwise Jezero crater seems o be an excellent choice.

Sulphates on Earth require oxygen to form either by volcanic eruptions or the action of sulphate reducing bacteria. Deposits of iron pyrite have been attributed to rising levels of atmospheric oxygen. Varying sulphur isotopes have been regarded as biosignitures.

What do findings of sulphates, gypsum, manganese oxide and haematite on Mars tell us about climatic condition's with regard to atmospheric and water oxygen levels? Is Curiosity rover equipped to measure isotope ratios?

Simply brilliant stuff!

Does the higher hematite ratios imply higher water content or higher atmospheric oxygen content?

Sorry for my ignorance in the field of geology and geomagnetism. The uphill trend of more hematite than magnetite along the curiosity rover traverse up Mount Sharp, does it tell us much about Mars magnetic field?

It looks like the martians used to watch space 1999 tv series as well , they built a model spaceship still remains in one piece.

A study published discussing inverted river channels in Arabia terra as a sign of a warm and wet climate on early Mars talks about ancient river channels flowing from topographic highs to lower regions from south to the lower northern regions. My question is where would meridiani planum fit along this topographic gradient? The rocks stu died by opportunity rover were mainly sulphate rocks suggestive of acidic water alteration . The inverted channels discussed seem to originate on early mars where water would be expected to form different rock types from those observed by opportunity! Maybe I am getting the ages wrong. Correct me if I am wrong.

I am not sure if I should post this here but having seen the Pluto system up close we have come to know better how this system ticks. Analogies have been made with the Earth particularly in terms of Planet moon size comparison and the process of formation in terms of colliding protoplanets in the early history of the solar system. Is there any possibility the protoplanet that collided with earth which led to the formation of our moon was a KBO? Would that not explain the different make up of earth's atmosphere today and the abundant presence of liquid water on the surface in contrast to the other terrestrial planets?

The study by Poggiali et al published describes radar studies which seem to show fluid filled valleys draining into Ligeia Mare. The continuous presence of fluid within these canyons in the absence of precipitation would thus seem to indicate a subsurface source of liquid methane?

It's interesting to note that the Galilean moons Ganymede and Callisto also show clay minerals on the surface like Ceres. Can anyone elaborate on this?

Does the recent discovery of a new KBO help or disprove the existence of Planet 9 and if yes, does it in any way help with better predicting it's current location more accurately?

How far from its current location is the small gully which Opportunity is meant to be investigating in the extended mission?