[X] My Assistant

[Tesheiner]

Time for a new thread.
After moving southwards for ages, the "detour" by the western path has started with a 60+ meters drive on sol 1942.


There are no images yet --they should be available on the next update-- so this image was calculated solely based on the rover's mobility info. I'll update the route map later.

[dvandorn]

Stu, my understanding is that the "clays" that MRO has been discovering are the phylosilicates that have been discussed at length, especially in the site selection deliberations for MSL.

I'd have the think that any clays found within Endeavour would have to be remnants of earlier aqueous conditions than those which were involved in laying down the Meridiani sulfate sandstones. And considering there must be pieces of the crust underlying those sandstone deposits in the walls of Endeavour, I guess that's not terribly surprising.

Now we need to really hope and pray that Oppy can make it to some of the clay deposits and give them a careful examination. For one thing, clays are the most likely places to find fossilized life remnants, especially bacterial fossils. While Oppy is not all that well equipped to look for anything like that, it could very likely constrain the possibilities in a favorable manner.

Take *real* good care of Oppy for us, guys... now, more than ever, it seems the payoff if we get to Endeavour could be truly astounding.

-the other Doug