Roving into the Sulfate Hills, Sol 3200-3387, 6 Aug 2021-16 Feb 2022 |
Roving into the Sulfate Hills, Sol 3200-3387, 6 Aug 2021-16 Feb 2022 |
Aug 5 2021, 06:24 AM
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#1
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10172 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
I am starting a new thread for the climb into the hills and valleys of the sulfate unit. I had naively anticipated knowing when a sharp compositional boundary would be crossed, but more likely it will be gradual and the crossing point arbitrary. So the odometer clicking up to 3200 seems like a reasonable place to start a new section. There will be no shortage of amazing views to greet us as we rove on, singing 'sulfates on the soles of our shoes' perhaps.
Start posting here on sol 3200! Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PD: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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Aug 5 2021, 12:02 PM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 75 Joined: 8-July 15 Member No.: 7566 |
The rugged terrain Curiosity has reached is arguably the most spectacular landscape ever visited by a Mars rover and I cannot wait for the pictures we are going to get. It'll be a fitting place for Curiosity to spend her final years <3. Can anyone point me to a rough traverse path of where the rover will be headed over the next year or two? I hope we get to return to the pediment soon, the view from up there of the rover's 8-year journey will be amazing I'm sure.
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Aug 5 2021, 12:15 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2429 Joined: 30-January 13 From: Penang, Malaysia. Member No.: 6853 |
Version 10 of the 'Mount Sharp Ascent Route' (MSAR) is the latest version that I am aware of.
It was documented in an abstract from the 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. The abstract has several figures that show the path and describe some of the candidate science waypoints along the path. Spoiler alert: They do plan to revisit the Pediment LINK ...Can anyone point me to a rough traverse path of where the rover will be headed over the next year or two? I hope we get to return to the pediment soon... |
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Aug 11 2021, 08:24 PM
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#4
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 75 Joined: 8-July 15 Member No.: 7566 |
And we have almost arrived at the pediment already! The resistant capstone at the top of the cliff in front of us is indeed the Greenheugh pediment I have overlaid the MSAR_10 route (the most recent strategic route) to show roughly where the team probably intends to ascend up onto the pediment. From the looks of the planned traverse, the rover will follow this cliff uphill, squeezing through a narrow passage and then ascending a ramp. However, before all that I expect they'll want to drill nearby to where we are now, to document the chemistry of the rocks directly underneath the pediment. Once we're ontop, the view will be very special. Looks like they plan on sending the rover towards that big ridge that runs down the middle of it - my understanding is that there's debate over whether the Greenheugh pediment represents just aeolian sandstones, basically a lateral continuation of the stimson formation (remember the buttes all those years ago?), alternatively it might be an alluvial fan. It certainly resembles a fan in shape and that big ridge running down the middle could be an inverted channel. This is why the mission geologists want to send the rover there, to check which theory's true! |
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Aug 15 2021, 09:53 AM
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#5
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Member Group: Members Posts: 362 Joined: 13-April 06 From: Malta Member No.: 741 |
And we have almost arrived at the pediment already! The resistant capstone at the top of the cliff in front of us is indeed the Greenheugh pediment I have overlaid the MSAR_10 route (the most recent strategic route) to show roughly where the team probably intends to ascend up onto the pediment. From the looks of the planned traverse, the rover will follow this cliff uphill, squeezing through a narrow passage and then ascending a ramp. However, before all that I expect they'll want to drill nearby to where we are now, to document the chemistry of the rocks directly underneath the pediment. Once we're ontop, the view will be very special. Looks like they plan on sending the rover towards that big ridge that runs down the middle of it - my understanding is that there's debate over whether the Greenheugh pediment represents just aeolian sandstones, basically a lateral continuation of the stimson formation (remember the buttes all those years ago?), alternatively it might be an alluvial fan. It certainly resembles a fan in shape and that big ridge running down the middle could be an inverted channel. This is why the mission geologists want to send the rover there, to check which theory's true! Some Hong Kong University scientists in a recent paper have suggested that all rock layers studied by Cuuriosity so far except for the Bradbury formation seem to be wind swept deposits rather than lacustrine. Any ideas? |
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Aug 15 2021, 11:48 AM
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#6
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Member Group: Members Posts: 684 Joined: 24-July 15 Member No.: 7619 |
Some Hong Kong University scientists in a recent paper have suggested that all rock layers studied by Cuuriosity so far except for the Bradbury formation seem to be wind swept deposits rather than lacustrine. Any ideas? FYI Intense subaerial weathering of eolian sediments in Gale crater, Mars Jiacheng Liu1,2, Joseph R. Michalski1,2, and Mei-Fu Zhou1,3 Science Advances 06 Aug 2021:Vol. 7, no. 32, eabh2687 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abh2687 https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/32/eabh2687.full Figure #6 from the paper summarizes their theory |
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