Exploring Mt Sharp north of the dunes - Part 1: Beyond Pahrump Hills, Site 45-50, Sol 923-1147, March 12-October 28, 2015 Options

[Guest_Steve5304_*]

They probably are; gypsum veins have been found by Oppy and Curiosity before. There was water percolation through bedrock in many places. Most of what we see is a lot older than most places on Earth, though; billions instead of millions. Erosion moves exceedingly slowly here.

well the gypsum is in a flow pattern downstream. the plaster of paris only reveals itself in the presence of.water . This place on the planet had ALOT of water...

[algorithm]

MastCam mosaic from Sol1095, (not sure of target name)

[PaulH51]

Another R-MastCam mosaic from sol 1095

Original (5756 x 1469) LINK

[serpens]

..... Erosion moves exceedingly slowly here.

More accurately, erosion moves exceedingly slowly here now days. In the past this must have been a very dynamic environment with plenty of that universal solvent, water. In the absence of plate tectonics building and sculpting a sedimentary formation like mount Sharp won't happen in a benign environment.

[Guest_Actionman_*]

... erosion exceedingly thorough with out apparent annihilation.

[jccwrt]

Another R-MastCam mosaic from sol 1095

I believe the big ridge at center is Grey Wolf Peak. Cliff on the left side might be the rear flank of Mt. Stimson or Mt. Siyeh.

[PaulH51]

Animation of what looks like an Alignment Check for Organic Check Material Sample Acquisition on the 'offset OCM canister' (lower right hand side of the 5 cans)

Flickr (755 x 800) LINK or IMGUR LINK

[PaulH51]

I believe the big ridge at center is Grey Wolf Peak. Cliff on the left side might be the rear flank of Mt. Stimson or Mt. Siyeh.

Looking at Phil's maps, that sounds like a good call... I'd probably favour Siyeh for the other peak

[atomoid]

MastCam mosaic from Sol1095, (not sure of target name)

Nice work! algorithm's stitch stitch gives context to the two curious and seemingly related bar-like features tht appear to contain coarser grains and are displaced across what to my untrained eye looks like an apparent fault slip in this sol1095 image... interpretations anyone?

[PaulH51]

Interpretations anyone?

I'll leave that to the experts But it is impressive

Meanwhile we dont have all the NavCam images yet, but these 5 frames (L-NavCam, sol 1098) give us an idea of the terrain in new location. Roughly assembled in MS ICE.
The drive appears to have been cut short of the planned distance. Maybe the rover spotted the outcrops to the right (inside Bridger Basin) and fancied a closer look at them If not, there is some better driving terrain to the south and then west around the basin.

Original (3841 x 1382) LINK

Edit : Curiosity Mission Update from Ken Herkenhoff, Sol 1099: Driving again LINK

MSL did well over the long weekend, except that the Sol 1098 drive was halted after 13 meters of the planned 25 meters because the rover could not confirm that the path ahead was safe. So the plan for the Sol 1099 drive is essentially to complete the rest of the previously planned drive. The only significant problem I've had to grapple with today as SOWG Chair is that the last 5 relays of data through MRO have returned significantly less data than expected; if this problem continues, we will barely receive enough data to plan another drive on Sol 1100. Fortunately, the MRO team understands the problem and knows how to correct it, and there is a good chance that we will receive all the data we need in time for planning tomorrow morning. This situation reminds me of how much we depend on the Mars orbiters and the teams that operate them, and to thank them for their continued support of the MSL mission.
Before the Sol 1099 drive, we have time to acquire ChemCam and Mastcam observations of "Mission Creek" and "Chamberlain," plus MastCam mosaics of "Bridger Basin," "Hackley Point," and "Police Creek." The rover will wake up early on the morning of Sol 1100 to acquire a big stereo mosaic of the far wall of Bridger Basin, because the illumination will be better early in the morning. Mastcam will also take a 360-degree panorama with the left camera.

[PaulH51]

Sol 1098 R-NavCam in MS ICE. Stitching at the horizon is poor, but the rest should be OK. Great view....



Link to full size LINK

[jvandriel]

The Navcam L panoramic view on Sol 1098.

Jan van Driel

[Phil Stooke]

Jan's panorama in circular form - for identification of distant features, this projection puts them at the correct azimuth (roughly - I'm only aligning it by eye here).

Paul - assuming your mosaic work uses manually identified tie points, try to make sure there is one on the horizon at each image overlap, and your horizon will be fixed.

Phil

[jvandriel]

and the Navcam L view on Sol 1099.

Jan van Driel

[Phil Stooke]

and the circular view of the same view on Sol 1099! Great view of the cliffs of Bridger Basin.

Phil