Spring at Cape York, Sol 2947 (after Greeley Haven) - sol 3040 Options

[MarkG]

Well, I think that the "dagger" will turn out to be a very old filled slump crack in the rim. If the Endeavor crater was formed amidst the process that was depositing the Meridiani sediment, the details of the "dagger" fill could be instructive, since they would be kind of a snapshot of the time. (Since the "dagger" extends into the Meridiani sediment a ways, it is younger than the rim, but probably older than the end of the Merdidiani deposition.)

[ElkGroveDan]

Well phhhhtttt! on all of you. I'll go out on a limb and depart from the nose-in-the-air, poo-poo chorus. I think it's an aqueous erosional feature (likely buried and exhumed several times) that was created as water drained from Meridiani over and around Cape York into Endeavor Crater.

Go ahead and laugh. They laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian, but no one's laughing now.

[mhoward]

Right on, Dan. We'll see what it is (maybe) when we get there.

Anyone who was expecting gypsum veins prior to arrival, please weigh in on this issue.

[ngunn]

It's a vent emitting psychotropic gases, as at Delphi. When we get there we'll learn what we don't know.

[fredk]

OK, if you want to know what I really think it is, parsimony dictates that it's an outlet for the Abyss in the Columbia Hills near our resting friend, Spirit. Fluids spiral down into the Abyss, through the Martian core, and empty out here. The fact that the flow pattern from the notch appears to be horizontal rather than downhill into Endeavour is easily explained by ngunn's psychotropic gases.

So is there a name to the rule that the signal-to-noise on this forum drops and silliness goes up whenever new pics are scarce?

[Guest_Oersted_*]

No relief in sight, you say? - Nothing that a bit of a stretch can't solve is my answer...

[nprev]

Fred, the rule is unwritten but can be summarized by the following:

Patience, all, patience...

[Astro0]

> So is there a name to the rule that the signal-to-noise on this forum drops and silliness goes up whenever new pics are scarce?

Exploratorium Withdrawal Physcosis:
A psychiatric disorder that is marked by delusions, hallucinations, incoherence, distorted perceptions of reality and posting silly things when the individual cannot see or manipulate images from a distant planet.

[Phil Stooke]

If we don't get a fix soon it will be "patients, all patients"

Phil

[MarkG]

In keeping with the current discussion...

EGD,
I'll see your "phhhhtttt!" and raise you a "BWHAHAHAHA!"

It is the scar made by Martians doing a wheelie in their ground transport unicycles, after laughing at the primitive Earth contraptions showing up...

[Zeke4ther]

These are not the 'droids you are looking for.

Move along, move along....

[CosmicRocker]

Whatever the reason for the inspired humor around here, I'm all for it.

[Fran Ontanaya]

I'll put my money on "nest dug by High Speed Turtle to lay its eggs".

[Tesheiner]

Ok, back to business. The exploratorium may be somehow stuck but the images pipeline to the mission's website is working.
Here's a 360deg. navcam mosaic from our current site.


And looking to the imaging sequences planned to thisol, it seems that some RAT activities are scheduled.

02995::p1110::02::2::0::0::2::0::4::front_haz_mi_1024x1024x1bpp_pri56
02995::p1121::03::2::0::2::0::0::4::fhaz_idd_apxs_doc_512x512x1bpp_pri56
02995::p1140::02::2::2::0::0::0::4::front_hazcam_rat_doc_sbfrm_4bpp_crit
02995::p1141::00::2::0::2::0::0::4::front_haz_idd_rat_doc_512x512x1_bpp_high
02995::p1154::01::2::0::0::2::0::4::front_hazcam_idd_unstow_doc
02995::p2142::12::1::1::0::0::1::3::pancam_RAT_verification_R1
02995::p2596::29::2::2::0::0::1::5::pancam_Grasberg1_R12

[Phil Stooke]

... and Tesheiner's great panorama in circular form with a close-up. The dark lines that looked like topography along the contact in HiRISE images are not topography at all... what does that mean for Whim Creek?

Phil