Cape York - Shoemaker Ridge and the NE traverse, Starting sol 2735 Options

[Stu]

Oppy's next destination - the Shoemaker Ridge...



(3D version here http://roadtoendeavour.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/sr-3d.jpg )

Some more height...surrounded by lots of gorgeous rocks...view right across Endeavour... our first view too, probably, of the Promised Land in the centre of Cape York where the phylosillicates are waiting to be found...

Go get 'em, Oppy!

Edit: looks like Oppy's on the move...

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...84P1211L0M1.JPG

[Bill Harris]

<snips>

The outcrop Skead Kirkland Lake is one we've drooled at before and is an interesting-looking exposure. Why is there an unusual purplish iridescent sheen to the rock? I'll guess it's a weathering phenomenon, which is the important step in turning silicate rocks into clays. Wouldn't hurt to have a closer look-- not necessarily a full IDD session, but a series of close-in Pancams would be peachy.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r91/wil...19P2398L2M1.jpg

Oppy moved today, and as suggested, the move is to outcrop Skead Kirkland Lake to the west, which is near Odyssey ejecta. A few sols drooling on that outcrop, then off to the Shoemaker Ridge site for looks at what I'm naming informally on my end "the Allen Formation".

And some interesting imagery in the data pipeline today, so stay tuned...

--Bill