Concepción, The freshest crater yet to be explored Options

[Bill Harris]

I couldn't leave you guys hanging all weekend, so here's the Marquette stuff!

Thanks-- that is a good summary of what we've been looking at for the past few months.

But... Squyres made a typo in 1757.pdf and called Marquette "Mackinac":

Pancam and Microscopic Imager images of Mackinac Island show mm-size grains, and no layering or sedimentary
textures. We tentatively interpret Mackinac Island as an ejecta block from some distant crater, and
we are investigating the implications of it being a sample of previously unexamined martian crustal material.

Maybe we need an LPSC thread?

--Bill

[Stu]

Oppy's latest view of Concepcion...

http://twitpic.com/16wcvb/full

Really liking our multi-layered friend on the left there...

[nprev]

Yes, indeed...that's definitely one for the mantel!

[Stu]

Like that rippled dune on the left hand side there...



( BTW, any UK forum members who want a pair of 3D glasses to view images like this (sorry, but the polarised glasses that you, um, forgot to give back after watching 'AVATAR' won't work; you need the red and blue ones) but haven't got any, here's a tip: go into your local branch of "THE WORKS" discount bookshop. At the moment there are quite a few kids 3D books in there that come with a free pair of glasses... )

[Tesheiner]

Good choice Stu. It's a really nice picture.
BTW, we can even see the rover tracks crossing a ripple at the top right corner. AFAIK these are the same ones we talked about some time ago. Let me search for a link...

Edited: That picture was taken during sol 2173 2174 after a 10+ meters drive still part of the CW circumnavigation. There are some "drive-direction" pancams on that same image batch and they are pointing toward the "twin craters" and IMO it means that we may be leaving soon; this monday perhaps.

This post has been edited by Tesheiner: Mar 7 2010, 11:26 PM

[Stu]

I hope we're not leaving just yet; I'd really like a closer look at this fella here... he looks pale compared to all his friends...

[Explorer1]

Is it just a perspective trick or does that look pretty hard for Oppy to access? A lot of rocks in the way....

[Stu]

Not expecting her to drive up to it - that's obviously a very hurtful place for a rover - just hoping she can get a bit closer to give us a clearer look.

[ElkGroveDan]

Also remember that when you select a small section of one of these images and zoom in on it, there is a significant amount of foreshortening going on. Those rocks are not as close together as it might appear.

[Stu]

Agreed. here's the full size version...



The only way Oppy is getting next to that rock is if she teleports there...

[Hungry4info]

I thought she was designed for this sort of stuff. Spirit drove right over Adriondack. Are these rocks of comparable size?

[Stu]

Hmmm. But remember, Adirondack was just sat there on its own. That pale rock has a lot of clutter around it.

Kind of academic anyway, I'm sure it's nothing special, and you can almost feel Oppy straining to head away from Concepcion and strike out for that hill-rippled horizon...

[fredk]

There was some discussion of this recently, I think in the planetary update. She can drive into rocks like this, but the problem is if she's perched with one wheel on a rock she may be unstable for IDD work.

[Hungry4info]

There was some discussion of this recently, I think in the planetary update. She can drive into rocks like this, but the problem is if she's perched with one wheel on a rock she may be unstable for IDD work.

Could a quick underbelly MI mosaic would be able to determine if she were in such an unfavourable orientation?

[Explorer1]

What's the effective range on Mini-TES to collect data from a distance?
Not just for this rock, but when they find other interesting rocks in view but out of reach? How close does the instrument have to be for measurements?