[X] My Assistant

[PaulM]

I am particularly intrigued by the prospect of Oppy ever finding clay deposits beneath all that sulphate-rich sandstone. Any news on that anyone?

The following paper seems to provide an answer to your question:

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2005/pdf/1171.pdf

This paper is of the opinion that "The sedimentary rocks examined by ... Opportunity ... are part of a statigraphic sequence greater than 1 km in thickness". It also states that "The amount of rock that once covered the MER-B site could have been as much as 200-300 m".

If these estimates are correct then Opportunity would need to find a crater of at least 700m in depth if it was to have a hope of finding the clay deposits beneath the sulphate rich sandstone. Victoria at only 70m in depth is clearly not deep enough to provide exposures of clay deposits.

As has been suggested before on this web site Ithaca crater might be deep enough to allow clay deposits to be investigated. Unfortunately as has also been stated Ithaca crater is many km away at the far side of a large impassible dune field.

[CosmicRocker]

I am particularly intrigued by the prospect of Oppy ever finding clay deposits beneath all that sulphate-rich sandstone. Any news on that anyone?

I've seen scattered reports of clays detected by orbiting instruments within Meridiani, but specifically with regard to your question about clays beneath the sulphate-rich sandstones of the Meridiani plains, I noticed the next to last paragraph in this news release recently. I'd like to hear more about that.

[Doc]

Alright here is my diagnosis for a 'possible' approach to Cabo Frio.

So far it seems to be an easier target and Oppy can get as close to it as she can get.

However there is a sand drift(marked red in both images) that may give the rover some trouble.

Cabo Frio is approx. 85m away.

Reviews are welcomed.




This shows the view from the top of Cape Verde.

[Shaka]

Fascinating, Doc. Assuming we continue our Duck Bay transect down to the limit of visible bedrock slabs (off the left side of your image), we will then have a choice of access routes to Frio: 1. Directly across the narrow plume of sand to the SE tip of the cape. 2. Back up to the "yellow brick road" of Smith Street, following it around to the cape wall. 3. All the way back up to the surface of Meridiani, then around to the cape wall and down.
I favor the first, if careful inspection suggests the sand is crossable. Otherwise #2. #3 would only be attractive if we were in need of a gust cleaning.

[djellison]

Surge posts by Don & Kye moved to the Surge thread : http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...0&start=300

[climber]

Some nostalgy Oppy ?
Isn't it an origami hen you're folding here ?

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...26P2417L2M1.JPG

[Doc]

Can any one guess where Oppy is going to move to after the Lyell layer has been sampled? Im itching to get a move on!

[Tesheiner]

Well I was preparing a post saying that new driving targets downslope were selected on sols 1397 and 1398 when I realized that Opportunity actually moved from the site it was parked since sol 1382.
The driving took place on sol 1402 and it looks like it was almost a turn in place and the rover is now parallel to the slope and facing on the general direction of Cape Verde.



For the next target, a "drive direction" pancam mosaic was taken on sol 1403. Here are the pictures: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...nity_p1403.html

[Tesheiner]

... and here's a fish-eye mosaic made with some navcam pictures from sols 1402 and 1404.

[jvandriel]

Here is the complete panoramic view taken with the

R0 Navcam on Sol 1402 and Sol 1404.

jvandriel

[Doc]

Seems the rover is now sampling the very edge of the Lyell layer.
And one thing has struck me as odd. The blue berries. There doesn't seem be many of them in Smith.
But I recall the layer akin to Smith at Endurance had lots of berries embedded in it. The lower layers seem to have a lot more, but still its wierd.

Is this because of removal and deposition of the blue berries by denudation or is this a chemical problem.

[Tesheiner]

> Seems the rover is now sampling the very edge of the Lyell layer.

Yup. The current target (this image) was named "smith_lyell_contact".

Edited: BTW, if anybody is interested, here's a "map" of the targets that have been imaged since the start of the plunge.

[fredk]

Yes, Tesheiner, I'm very interested, thanks for the target map!

Notable on that map is the pair of rocks/cobbles Kuenen and Jin, which appear quite different in colour from the rest of the slope. Here they are identified in James Canvin's Lyell panorama:

[nprev]

Indeed intriguing. Kuenen at first glance looks very much like a conglomerate (or perhaps a breccia)!

[climber]

Edited: BTW, if anybody is interested, here's a "map" of the targets that have been imaged since the start of the plunge.

Thanks Eduardo,
To my eyes it could even be included (replace ?) your "Oppy route" for quite a while.
This is definitively a new fine perspective.