Heading south from Cape York, Opportunity's post-conjunction adventures / Sol 3291 - 3387 Options

[Phil Stooke]

"it does seem to turn a gusty thing into a DD-like thing."

Maybe you're right - it should be thought of as a little puff of dust raised by the wind rather than an actual dust devil, and the stretched image would be misleading. After all, that technique would make ground cover look like a forest (or the Viking 2 site look like a Christmas tree farm).

As for documentation, I never read it so I'm not going to start writing it!

Phil

[mhoward]

this can wreak havoc with the Auto-exposure and make processing the image challenging.

I think this is only a problem with the stretched JPGs from the web; I don't think it generally affects the PDS data, although I could be wrong.

[Bill Harris]

May well be, but I'm thinking it'll affect the the total exposure of the frame. We'll see what it looks like in 6 mos when it hits PDS...

Maybe you're right - it should be thought of as a little puff of dust raised by the wind rather than an actual dust devil, and the stretched image would be misleading

May be. It did strange things to the DDs over at Gusev...

--Bill

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[Phil Stooke]

Yikes, it's like the fountains at Versailles!

Phil

[ElkGroveDan]

The @n0m@lists would have a field day with those.

[Bill Harris]

Yikes, it's like the fountains at Versailles!

Yes indeedie. It reminds me of a booming, honking something-or-other from Pepperland in the movie Yellow Submarine. Or somesuch silliness, like Monty Python.

I've gone through my archives and it seems that in 2005 when we first started noticing Dust Devils at the the Spirit/Gusev site we did a lot of vertical exaggerations and animated GIF sequences. I note that many times the DDs are present as the broad, diffuse gusty areas, especially when developing and as they fall apart. And the vertical exaggeration and contrast enhancement technique would help to bring out thew DDs on these distant images of the Endeavour Central Mound (which is about as good a situation for DD hunting as the Spirit On A Hill scenario that we used before). It is not hard to do a Crop/Resize/Contrast-Tweak on incoming images of the Central Mound.

--Bill

[serpens]

Dust devils? Cool, but possiby a touch passé. The probable gypsum veins in this remnant of the rim are more interesting. The rim has overrun by plains material, which means that there was massive erosion of the NW edge of Endeavour prior to that event. But was the gypsum formed within the rim which implies that these veins predate the plains material deposition and associated liquid water. Or are they the product of the same water event that is evidenced by Opportunity's observations of the plains material? I find it a touch disappointing that there seems to have been little correlation (at least in published articles) between Opportunity's limited area investigations and Endeavour crater as a whole. The hematite signature of the internal mound raises a lot of questions about how there was sufficient groundwater to form berries (assuming they are the hematite source in that area) unless the crater were filled with water.

[walfy]

Wonderful shot of Nobby's Head on Sol 3335, with our goal in the distance:



(Hi-res copy here)

[Ant103]

Yes Walfy. So much imagery this sol

A color portion of a bigger panorama, I think :




The bigger panorama, in greyscale for now :



The navcam shot, after a quick drive. Lovely ripples there :



And the drive direction :

[Tesheiner]

If I'm reading correctly, two 6x1 colour mosaics were shot on sol 3335. This is the second one, taken (almost) at the end-of-drive. The first one is still on the downlink queue and was shot before the drive, 35m to the NE.

[Bill Harris]

The probable gypsum veins in this remnant of the rim are more interesting. The rim has overrun by plains material, which means that there was massive erosion of the NW edge of Endeavour prior to that event. But...

There are so many clues and questions at this line of outcrops. We got started on understanding the basics of the history of this area with the work at Cape York and we need to be following up and tying many things together as we walk this outcrop.

For example, what is the story behind the contact and outcrop at Sutherland Point? http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&p=200875 What is the lithology and nature of the several rock types seen at that site? No need to do detailed APXS or MI studies, simple Pancam Systematic Foreground or Color Clast Survey images will speak volumes. At Knobby Head, what are the similarities and differences in the (apparent) Impactite seen at CY and here? (Attached image)

Admittedly, there are time constraints in getting to Cape Trib, but it is good field practice to connect the dots was we go. On the dipping strata present here, the more deeply eroded the outcrop is and the lower in the section we can look. And this doesn't even touch on the importance of understanding the Meridiani Onlap (ie, the contact between the Endeavour strata and the post-Endeavour strata). Or the enigma of the gypsum-filled fractures that are prevalent here.

So much to do, so little time...

--Bill

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[Ant103]

Sol 3335, wider Navcam panorama :

[ngunn]

I have a question about 'contouring'. Walking in the hills it's not uncommon to follow a contour to avoid losing height. How much does this come into play in rover operations? I note that we have gone round the top side of Nobby's Head and so kept on the level.

[fredk]

The slopes are pretty subtle here and I think they could have done a direct route if they chose to. I think the approach to Nobby is mainly to do stereo imaging in case they need to use it for winter.

Also, they talked about possibly driving around and approaching from the west side of Solander, which would be easier than driving up from the east or north.

[Bill Harris]

Hot off the wire... the central portion of an L257 Pancam panorama of Nobbys Head on Sol-3335:

--Bill

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