Wow... are we already on the other side of Whim Creek?



( More images: http://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com/2012/...y-to-whim-creek )

Yup! The drive went quite well. Not sure if the geologists will like what they see in the front, but we got a flagstone in the IDD work volume. We got down the full 10x1 and the lower tier NAVCAM already!

Paolo

MERB3021WhimCreek2View1 on Flickr


MERB3021WhimCreek2NavcamLeft on Flickr


MERB3021WhimCreek2NavcamAnaglyph on Flickr

Quicktime VR versions of the full 360 Navcam pan: left eye; anaglyph. As usual my anaglyph panoramas have some ugly seams but perhaps get the point across.

I don't know... this site has got to be right up there in the list of incredible MER views, for me anyway.

It's a beauty.

I can't believe they drove right across! The other side looks like a steep drop off, Oppy must have been at a steep angle. Lots of nice new images, but have to get to work now

We hit 23 deg but it was for a really short time and that was expected. It is not a big deal. Driving at 23 deg for a long drive while avoiding big rocks is a different thing but here even if we skidded a bit it would not have had any consequences.

Paolo

Not for an experienced rover driver like Paolo, anyway! What an exciting final drive - congratulations and thanks for getting us this far!

I join the gang to thank you¨Paolo. And don't tell us you'll try this 23 deg angle on your next drive on the next rover
Should be exciting learning everything all over again on another vehicule.
Good luck and see you there.

My version of the polar pan:



Phil

Paolo,

I have to chime in as well and thank you for your excellent work.

I've been closely following the "dagger" and very glad that we finally got there. I was hoping for something that was obviously hydraulic but at least we now have a clear image of it.

So I guess the consensus is that the "dagger" is a crack and not some aeolian feature?

Check out the edge of the bright material under the rover in my polar pan just above... and follow that edge towards the lower right. It looks to me like the bright layer is being eroded back from a previously more etensive coverage of the area. The edge is sharp, and outward from it the rough surface consists of disaggregated fragments of the bright material. I suggest the Dagger is just a place where that disaggregation and erosion has extended along a fracture. There are smaller fractures on each side of it, visible in this and the previous polar pan.

Phil

Phil,

Referring to your polar pan, I observe to the right of the dagger's tip a feature that looks like the beginning of a new dagger. It's curious that there is only one dagger visible on Cape York. How old is the dagger?

A problem I have with Mars is the extreme antiquity of its surface features. My intuition based upon terrestrial geology is largely inappropriate when trying to understand Martian geology.

You're right, that could be a baby dagger! But don't forget the one at the very northern tip of Cape York, called Mount Goldsworthy - it's less well developed than Whim Creek but similar and parallel. As for age, I don't know. I assume it takes at least tens of millions of years for these things to form.

Phil

You forgot: shadow of our intrepid explorer. And: PERFECT composition!

This must truly be considered one of the iconic images of Oppy's trek.

There's no colour version, is there? I guess they jumped the creek before it was taken...

A part of the creek in 3D: