The western route, 5th leg after stop at Absecon / Reeds Bay |
The western route, 5th leg after stop at Absecon / Reeds Bay |
Jul 11 2009, 05:57 PM
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 4279 Joined: 19-April 05 From: .br at .es Member No.: 253 |
Time for a new thread.
After moving southwards for ages, the "detour" by the western path has started with a 60+ meters drive on sol 1942. There are no images yet --they should be available on the next update-- so this image was calculated solely based on the rover's mobility info. I'll update the route map later. |
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Aug 1 2009, 09:41 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1229 Joined: 24-December 05 From: The blue one in between the yellow and red ones. Member No.: 618 |
Ilbasso,
Antarctic meteorites mostly represent lag deposits left behind by melting and evaporation of the ice cap they were previously embedded in. They got into the ice after entering the atmosphere, which slowed them to terminal velocity - from maybe 12 kilometers per second down to only 0.1 km/s, more or less. They hit the ice cap or snow without enough energy to make a proper crater or significantly damage themselves. Subsequent snows buried them in the cap and they rode it as far as the dry valleys or other erosion zones where they were lag deposited centuries/millenia later. It would be premature to postulate a similar ice cap deposition and concentration mechanism for Meridiani, but Block Island need not be sitting on the same surface it originally hit. Erosion could have removed that ages ago. Still, if Oppy had the ability, it would be fascinating to turn BI over and closely examine the bottom and the underlying bedrock for scars of impact. -------------------- My Grandpa goes to Mars every day and all I get are these lousy T-shirts!
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