That panorama deserves a special round of applause. Well done rover team! The beckoning distant crater rim hills and the dramatic foreground action in one view - superb. And thanks charborob for the nice mosaic work.

("some navcams" - James, you under-sold it. )

I'm wondering about the timing for exploration of the clay deposits on the southern slopes of Cape York. Oppy might be hard-pressed to achieve a North-facing or even level orientation for the solar panels once it is on those slopes. We might have to be content with the hydrated sulfate areas until the next Martian Spring. That would make it a real horse-race with MSL to be the first to reach phyllosilicates.

I like the look of that status bar!
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tm-...ty-sol2624.html

Thrilling, once again! How clearly do we already know the contents of what's underfoot as she traverses the area? Will there, for example, be an early right or left turn based on what is found at Spirit Point?

Indeed, that's a much nicer view than I was expecting. Shame there wasn't a pancam mosaic, but no time for that, Spirit Point beckons...

From Opportunity update:

but when looking at this map:

There is a 165.4m on last drive. Does it mean that Sol 2624 is now new backwards driving record Sol?


Anyway another 120-140m soon to come: http://twitter.com/#!/marsroverdriver/...509680526438400

Wow 165 meters.

Executed thisol and the images are on the net. One more drive and we are at the crater cluster.

How much lower is the base of Cape York compared to the rovers current location? It still seems weird we can't see any obvioius sign of it.

Not really; I think I'm right in saying that it's pretty much been agreed that CY is going to be hidden from us until we're almost on top of it, because it's more like a ledge sticking out of the inner slope of Endeavour's western wall than a peak on the wall itself. So we will need to get to a higher point in the landscape, I reckon 1.5km or so ahead, before we can start to see CY by looking down onto it.

Just to add: I think we saw more of the far rim of Endeavour from our higher vantage point near Concepcion than we do now. Until we see all that again, and more, we can't expect our destination to come into view. We're just crouched too low - and descending. Stu is right. The revelation will happen when the ground starts curving downward again and that may not be for a while. But at the current rate of progress it won't take too long.

If Cape York were a ledge off the wall, wouldn't a peak be evident to the West of Cape York?
Is there reason to think that Cape York is not a rim peak in its own right?

Good time to reread Emily's excellent blog article on elevation via MGS's MOLA: http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002638/

This quick screen grab might suggest we'll see CY sooner rather than later?

(edit: it's soo much fun flying around on Mars!!)

Is CY a well-eroded formerly considerable peak?

Cape York may have been protected from erosion until recent geologic times by a blanket of sulphate layers that are just now being removed to reveal more of Endeavours' rim. I wonder if there was ever a time that the entire rim of Endeavour was covered or if the higher parts of the rim have been exposed to the elements since their formation close to four billion years ago.