MSL "Drive, drive, drive" toward Glenelg, The scientists (mostly) get the keys - sols 38-56 Options

[charborob]

Sol 52 navcam pan of outcrop to be examined(?)

[Explorer1]

Yep, those 90 degree angles are gonna ruffle the loons' feathers...

[elakdawalla]

Moved my own and a few other peoples' posts on polar projected images to the Geomorphology thread.

[jmknapp]

So no word yet on any chemcam or apxs measurements of Jake?

[atomoid]

Thanks for continued interest in this. Since well be travelling for quite some time across the fallout area downwind of the entry path and heatshield impact, it wouldn't be too surprising (though perhaps sadly unlikely) to chance encounter more shiny EDL flotsam. though i wonder if anyone has a better idea of how far this type of flotsam (fabrics?) would be expected to travel given the wind, maybe it mostly landed far downwind and what we saw on SOLs 38&50 was skycrane or tether jetsam.

Hopefully the MSL team will take interest to image one and we can rule out speculars off shiny rock faces (or just bright white material standing out against dull dusty backgrounds overloading the sensor and causing a streak in SOL 38). If they were simple rock facet speculars, there should be shiny bits in a lot of images.

Seems fun to compile a compendium of sparkly bits and map them for future causes, so here's a start on a hit list, i hope it continues:

>> SOL 20 Little bright squiggle (thanks Fredk)

>> SOL 38: LEFT - RIGHT

>> SOL 50: LEFT - RIGHT
The Sol 50 one should be caught in that Sol 50 aft M100 panorama.
And here's the sol50 bright speck, viewed with M100: (thanks Fredk) <--hard to match up surroundings, perhaps its a different angle.

>> SOL 51: Add this to the list: MR SOL 51 -- Ronalds post

>> SOL 64 Another bright bit at the bottom of the frame (thanks Fredk)

>> another one, thanks Zelenyikot presumably in Post #401 (post links seem buggy, captured post 401 url instead brings up post 421... hmmm.


>> geez, a big one in the sol 107-109 gigapan lurking in the far left middle frame

[mhoward]

Sol 52 navcam pan of outcrop to be examined(?)

Could be, but seems like they regularly take Navcams off the right side of the rover there.

[charborob]

Could be, but seems like they regularly take Navcams off the right side of the rover there.

I was basing my assumption on this status report.

[elakdawalla]

So no word yet on any chemcam or apxs measurements of Jake?

It wasn't until after the briefing was over and I'd managed to get my couple questions in via Twitter that I realized they said nothing whatever about Jake, and now I'm kicking myself for not asking about it. They've been really circumspect about mineralogy/composition, but that's consistent with the pattern on Phoenix. I remember a couple of months into the Phoenix mission Lou Friedman got irritated with my reporting on operational details (they're trying to get X sample into Y TEGA chamber, etc) but no science; but of course that was a reflection of what they were sharing in press briefings. There is time set aside at the DPS meeting in two weeks (Wednesday Oct 17, in the afternoon) for first MSL results. Hopefully they'll be ready to share some preliminary stuff by then.

[Ant103]

Sol 51 M34 panorama, yet uncomplete



And Sol 52 Navcam pan :



(I'm posting this late because of having watched Avatar, the director's cut )

[Reed]

I am surprised that they did not do a ChemCam raster scan of Hottah.

They did zap Goulburn back around sol 16
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4546
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/ra...era=CHEMCAM_RMI

Edit:
I'm not clear what the target of the 5 shot sequence above from sol 19 was.
They also DAN'd one of the scours http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&p=189899

[udolein]

I am surprised that they did not do a ChemCam raster scan of Hottah. Maybe they could get have gotten lucky and flashed off some of the cementing mineral.

I'm surprised as well why we bypassed Hottah without any further examination. Instead we are looking 2-3 weeks now at Glenelg for a suitable place to drill for a SAM probe.

why that ?

Cheers, Udo

[akuo]

I'm surprised as well why we bypassed Hottah without any further examination. Instead we are looking 2-3 weeks now at Glenelg for a suitable place to drill for a SAM probe.

As mentioned in press conference, here are some reasons:
- The arm calibration hadn't been completed when Curie was at Hottah
- The first sample to SAM needs to be fines and before that, the arm sample delivery system needs to be cleaned with those fines (martian sand or similar)
- Hottah would be a difficult sample to drill, since it's a rock made out of many different types of material of varying hardness
- The science team thinks Glenelg will present even better first targets
- Failing finding better targets, they think similar rocks will crop up, and failing even that, they will have to double back from Glenelg anyway

Personally I think they should sample this Hottah type outcrop eventually, unless there is something really special at Glenelg. I'd be interested in the formation process of this rock. Is it duricrust formed in the dryness after the river period, or rock formed after layers of other material gathered on top of it?

[xflare]

Glenelg is looking basaltic to me.

[Phil Stooke]

Care to explain why?

Phil

[udolein]

We seem to have a strong wind on Sol 51 ...


Pebbles swirling around ...

Curiosity: stand firm !

Cheers, Udo