MSL Post First Drive - Intermission, Start of Drive to Glenelg, Intermission between CAP 1B and 2 - Sols 17 through 29 Options

[elakdawalla]

Curiosity's Cap 1B phase was completed yesterday with the successful first drive, so now we're going into "Intermission." Dan Limonadi's guest post on the Society blog has great explanations of what all these phases mean.

There is an “intermission” that the science team will have between CAP 1B and CAP 2. The intermission will include initial drives away from the landing site, more in-depth ChemCam and Mastcam characterization and science observations, and the first SAM atmospheric science experiment. The total length of this period depends on how long the science team wants to drive before carrying on with sample chain checkout activities. The key flavor difference of intermission is that science is more in the driver’s seat and not trying to squeeze in between higher priority engineering checkout activities that have priority during CAP 1 and 2. Our current plan is to complete a significant fraction of our drive to Glenelg during intermission

Keep discussion of sol 9-16 imaging in the relevant thread -- not all of those full-frame Mastcam images are down yet.

[Ant103]

Yes, great work Parai'

My own version (full res available by clicking the image) :



And there is also a M34 pan, incomplete for now, I think.



The M100 vertical pan is pretty large in vertical. Imagine now a full 360° acqured with this camera. No, my computer will die way a lot before finishing stitching only a half of the pano. A quick math :

The last M34 pan was 29 006 px wide for 3635 height. This column from M100 is 14 799 px, so about 14 800 px. A little cross product :

29 006 => x
3 635 => 14 800

y => 29 006 × 14 800 / 3 635
y => 118 098

So, this will result in a panoramic of about 118 000 pixels wide !! This is HUGE ! Is there computer which can just open such a huge picture ? I pass my hand…

[NickF]

Thanks for that great deBayering tip Ant103! Here's a very simple stitch in the meantime.

[Gladstoner]

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[dvandorn]

There seems to be a distinct bimodal size distribution of the pebbles. The smaller ones kind of remind me of blueberries.

I believe the geologic term for this is sorting. The surficial material here at Bradbury Landing is well-sorted, meaning there is not a random distribution of particle sizes from fines to boulders. As John Grotzinger pointed out in an early press conference, this suggests the surface is a lag deposit, where a deflationary process has preferentially removed all of the particles of the sizes that are most easily transported by the given process, leaving a lag deposit of the particles that were harder to move and, literally, left behind. As an opposite example, the lunar regolith is considered to be poorly sorted, with impact processes being the only deflationary processes in place, and impacts tend to transport particles of all sizes non-preferentially.

One good reason why the surface is reminiscent of the blueberry paving in Meridiani is that, per the best theories I've heard, the Meridiani surficial material is also a lag deposit. The very soft, friable rock that once covered Meridiani has all been deflated by aeolian processes, leaving the much more massive blueberries (which aren't nearly as easily transported by wind) in place as a lag deposit.

The deflationary processes do tend to round the edges off the lag particles, resulting in the more rounded appearance.

On Earth, a similar process would be the one that paves a creek bed with well-sorted, rounded pebbles. The transport mechanism (water) may be different from the primarily aeolian processes that have held sway on Mars for giga-years, but the principle is basically the same.

-the other Doug