Traverse to the Delta, sols 379-414, 15 Mar 2022- 21 Apr 2022 Options

[john_s]

Fabulous mosaic! I expect the layered units at the base of the slope, likely pre-dating the delta, will be the next high priority target. It looks like there's room between the foreground dunes to get to those units. So I wonder why the southward excursion now?

John

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Gladstoner]

They could be going to the low platform directly to the west of the current position. The light-colored strata below it appear to be more favorably exposed than those to the north.

Preliminary correlation of strata:



Unaltered image:

[Phil Stooke]

Here is the sol 413 panorama in circular form. I added the two names from the press release where I assume they are located (Hawksbill Gap was shown on a map at LPSC, I am guessing the other location). This is the best view we have had yet of one of these troughs in the landscape.

Phil

[Saturns Moon Tit...]

Here is the sol 413 panorama in circular form. I added the two names from the press release where I assume they are located (Hawksbill Gap was shown on a map at LPSC, I am guessing the other location). This is the best view we have had yet of one of these troughs in the landscape.

Phil

Ah, helpful to see that Hawksbill Gap is the place in front of us because the press release (https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-perseverance-rover-arrives-at-delta-for-new-science-campaign) suggests the mission team favours it and could spend months there. Unlike what we were driving past last week, I think the basal units at Hawksbill Gap actually have a good chance of being prodelta mudstones. Their expression in the landscape is subdued, which is consistent with softer mudstone, in contrast to the craggy scarp-forming delta front/delta top sandstones. They also seem to be emplaced in thin horizontal beds like you'd expect with lacustrine mudstone, and they are laterally continuous as Gladstoner showed us. Finally they have a distinct colour, especially the lowermost beds which have an unusual reddish tone that might indicate mud. This is all very promising! Excited to see them up close.

According to the press release, the Delta Front Campaign began on Monday April 18th and will last for six months. Time for a new thread?

[Cherurbino]

Here is the sol 413 panorama in circular form. I added the two names from the press release where I assume they are located (Hawksbill Gap was shown on a map at LPSC, I am guessing the other location). This is the best view we have had yet of one of these troughs in the landscape.

Phil

Thank you, Phil! A few hours before I asked about it in another topic:

... Yesterday the new Delta Front Campaign plan was published. May I ask anybody to draw the arrows for “Cape Nukshak” and “Hawksbill Gap” mentioned there?

I don't have the instruments to unwrap the circular projection. is it possible to put the arrows onto some common map? Thank you.
--Cherurbino

[Phil Stooke]

This is a detail enlarged from a presentation Paul mentioned in the other thread.

Phil

[climber]

So, we hope that we could get good pictures of the backshell and its parachute from the helicopter Ingenuity which is not far away from them
Those could be even more spectacular ! "Dare Mighty Things"

You’ve been heard Olivier…il suffisait de demander
https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/15168...3679727617?s=21

[Bill Harris]

Is there any supposition of what we think that furrow is in front of the Rover on this circular projection?

--Bill

[Deimos]

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-s-per...eclipse-on-mars

[neo56]

Some parts of the panorama taken on sol 411 with Mastcam-Z Left, focused on Three Forks and interesting outcrops on the delta front.

[charborob]

Sol 414 LMastcam-Z:

[fredk]

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-s-per...eclipse-on-mars

It's a nice sequence. I was surprized that the sun looks considerably larger in mast-z at 110mm than in the MSL eclipse sequences at 100mm, allowing for the 10% focal length difference. It turns out Mars is at around 1.42AU from the sun now, near perihelion at 1.38AU (so at best the sun would appear only a few percent larger). The closest MSL's been when recording video of a Phobos transit is around 1.48AU on sol 713, I believe.

[StargazeInWonder]

1) An interesting thing about the Phobos eclipse images is that Mars is nearly on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth, so the sunspots visible there give us an almost 360° view together with images taken from Earth at the same time.

2) Look at the wild shape of the shadow on Kodiak Hill. There is some interesting topography at right angles to the line of sight.

[djellison]

1) An interesting thing about the Phobos eclipse images is that Mars is nearly on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth,

Not really. It's about 90 degrees ahead at the moment - and shrinking.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[vikingmars]

You’ve been heard Olivier…il suffisait de demander
https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/15168...3679727617?s=21

Thanks so much Climber for the info!
For sure, those images will make through international news