Post Conjunction: Santa Maria to Cape York, The Journey to 'Spirit Point' Options

[fredk]

A bit of info (and a nod to our Stu!) explaining the recent short drive over at the new insider's blog:

For sol 2662, it was a combination of the science team wanting to stop short for the next crater set [Stu: it's named Mariner 9! They have a name!] and being limited by the data that had been downlinked by the time the drive needed to be planned.

[walfy]

Managed to tease out this pan-cam 3D from today's downlink (R-hand image had very poor contrast).

One big hole coming up! (Though probably more a dusty and dune-rippled plain, flat and wide. With a touch of terraforming, perhaps one day a prairie ).

[Ant103]

A part of the upcomming pan (I think).

Isn't it a part of Iazu Crater we can see at the right part of the pan, behind the hills of the south rim of Endeavour ?

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Astro0]

If those headings are correct then I think I'm ready to call....LAND HO!!

Super stretched animated gif:


The wider view animated gif:

[Phil Stooke]

Right - that can't be anything but Cape York now!

Phil

[elakdawalla]

Wow, those triangular peaks to the south are really popping up too. Are they all part of Cape Tribulation?

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[jamescanvin]

I haven't had the time to do a proper feature comparison (yet) but I would guess that those are part to the south-west rim quite a way beyond Cape Trib.

EDIT: Actually looking again, I'm inclined to change my mind. They probably are the very nearest peaks of the Cape Trib range that point toward Cape York.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

If those headings are correct then I think I'm ready to call....LAND HO!!

Shouldn't it appear darker than that though? The further away features are, the lighter they appear because of the atmosphere. It looks lighter than the peaks around Cape Tribulation.

[Tesheiner]

The colors are not absolute and may (and actually do) change from one image to another; remember that these are JPEGs where the brightness / contrast may be completely different from the original IMG pictures, so I would not compare the exact darkness of CY on that picture with CT on another one. If they were on the same pancam picture that would be a different story.

Besides, can you point a different feature on that (or similar) heading between CY and the far rim? There's no one.

[Stu]

Overview...



Nope, nuttin obvious either between us and where CY should appear, or between CY and the far rim... there is a rise on the crater floor in that direction, but pretty sure it's not high enough to obscure the crater visible above what we're thinking is CY...

[Tesheiner]

FWIW, there's another drive planned for today and, actually, Opportunity should be on the move right now. Let's see what the next batch of images show to us; there are no pancams on today's plan but maybe tomorrow.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Do you know how far?

[Tesheiner]

Not yet, but looking to the planned imaging sequences (see below) I think the plan includes a "mid-drive" navcam mosaic, probably of the little crater 90+ meters SE from the sol 2662 position, so I bet for a long 100+ meters drive.

02663::p0025::01::0::0::0::0::0::0::mer_b_sunfind_parms_left_eye_525_exp
02663::p0693::03::6::0::0::6::0::12::navcam_3x1_az_162_3_bpp <--- "post-drive" mosaic
02663::p1201::07::2::0::0::2::0::4::front_haz_penultimate_1bpp_pri17
02663::p1211::03::2::0::0::2::0::4::ultimate_front_haz_1_bpp_pri_15
02663::p1254::02::2::0::0::2::0::4::front_haz_fault_pri15_4bpp
02663::p1301::06::2::0::0::2::0::4::rear_haz_penultimate_1bpp_pri17
02663::p1312::07::2::0::0::2::0::4::rear_haz_ultimate_2_bpp_pri15
02663::p1354::01::2::0::0::2::0::4::rear_haz_fault_pri15_4bpp
02663::p1916::06::4::0::0::4::0::8::navcam_2x1_az_75_3_bpp <--- "mid-drive" mosaic?
02663::p2601::05::4::2::0::0::2::8::pancam_tau_L78R48
02663::p2627::02::36::0::0::0::0::36::pancam_sky_radiance_thumbs_L457R247

[Stu]

Why no pancams? I'd have thought they'd want as many as poss in the home run to CY.

Oh well, sure the navcams will be great!

[Phil Stooke]

Emily: "Wow, those triangular peaks to the south are really popping up too. Are they all part of Cape Tribulation? "

James: " They probably are the very nearest peaks of the Cape Trib range that point toward Cape York. "

If you check out Tesheiner's map in post 976 above, you can see that Solander Point (the smaller hills north of Cape Tribulation) must be directly in line with the Cape, in front of it. The hills appearing to the left are the more distant ones, where the rim curves eastwards.

Phil