Cape Tribulation, Sol 3744 (6Aug'14) - Sol 4077 (15Jul'15) Options

[atomoid]

Fredk, many thanks for the retrospectacle of early views of Solander, love seeing those..
nice look back sol3752 (perhaps this view even includes the spot where that photo was taken) and below in xeye, movin' on up!

[neo56]

Wow, really nice crossed-eyes, thanks atomoid !

[jvandriel]

Sol 3752-3753

Added 2 images for the complete view.

Jan van Driel

[atomoid]

slightly windtailed rock of interest sol3753 set 90cw rotated for crosseye

[fredk]

Some interesting information in the latest Crumpler blog.

The plan is to inspect the rocks that have come down the scree slope where we are now. After that there's a nice proposed route map taking us along the south side of Wdowiak to Ulysses crater and then on to Marathon valley.

We have two options: (1) take our time and pull into Marathon Valley just before winter shuts everything down, or (2) make rapid progress and arrive at Marathon Valley early enough in the season that we can do some sight-seeing before weather shuts things down.

That's clearly being very conservative - this past winter certainly didn't shut us down!

[centsworth_II]

...this past winter certainly didn't shut us down!

Perhaps Marathon Valley itself will be off limits during the winter and that is what he is refering to. I really like those Crumpler posts!

[serpens]

Anyone have any information on the Marathon valley contours? I guess that they cannot assume that Marathon Valley and approaches will have the same superb cleaning environment as was the case last winter and Opportunity could well have a stationary mid winter sojourn as was the case on Cape York. Plan for the worst case and be pleasantly surprised if things are better. Couldn't agree more with respect to Larry Crumpler's blog.

[fredk]

The winter at CY was the only one out of six Oppy needed to hunker down, so even without the intense gusts we've had this winter there's good reason to be optimistic for next winter. But of course they must plan for the possibility.

Finally some new images - here's our first real closeup of the rock face in front of us:

[James Sorenson]

CODE

03756 11:59:36  189   164      469 p2380.34 4            pancam_Wdowiak_Ridge_pt1_4x1_L257R2

Looks like that image is for the first part of a color panorama. This shall be a scenic one!

[fredk]

The view keeps getting better and better!
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...5M1.JPG?sol3754
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...5M1.JPG?sol3754
See how far you can follow our tracks back to Broken Hills...

[Floyd]

This is nice--fun to follow those tracks... Great images...

[walfy]

The view keeps getting better and better!
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...5M1.JPG?sol3754
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...5M1.JPG?sol3754
See how far you can follow our tracks back to Broken Hills...

Really nice shots! Here's one in 3D from the NavCam a few sols earlier:


Looking forward to more shots from these heights.

[Astro0]

Making tracks - sol3754

[atomoid]

Nice stitch, i've been waiting YEARS to see a view like this with an intervening mountain lower than the horizon. but thought we'd have to be higher up Cape Tribulation, pleasant surprise!
would be great to get a super-res of this overlaid with map tracks and SOLs all the way back to the location of Crumplers traverse map Cape York vanatage point.

[fredk]

Thanks, Astro0! Stunning stitch - this is one of the best views of the mission.

Sketching our path would be very cool - not only would it extend to Cape York, but also back across the great Dune Sea, since we could see Wdowiak Ridge from quite a ways back.