The Top of Vera Rubin Ridge Part 1, Site 66-67, sol 1812-1943, 11 Sep 2017-23 Jan 2018 Options

[Ant103]

Sol 1905 panoramic

[PaulH51]

Sol 1905 panoramic

Expertly crafted Damia

1906 RMI of an interesting little target. Not quite sure if ithe material on the left side is a thick mineral filled fracture, or another rock type, therefore an interface between two rocks. Leaning towards mineral filled fracture material

[PaulH51]

Unusually close to the sun dial in this MAHLI from 1904, much closer than the distance used for a Selfie, and focused on the ground. Hopefully the backdated weekend plan will be issued in a day or two will shed some light on what they were aiming to capture.

EDIT: They acquired another image with the sundial in focus, mystery solved?

[mcaplinger]

This is the best image of the cal target I've seen, and you can see the "MARS 2010" that we didn't update after the launch slip.

[Explorer1]

Cool! I suppose there's a good reason this sort of imaging hasn't been done until this far into the mission?

[Sean]

Here is a partial glimpse of the epic panorama waiting in the wings.... MSL 1903 ML

[neo56]

And my take on this awesome early morning panorama that is coming... Sol 1903, 8h07 local time.

[PaulH51]

1903 is going to be a outstanding 360. My previews all failed to pass internal QC, so I delighted to see these stunning teasers, plus I saw that Damia is working on de-bayering this set as well.

Further good news is that the team have ensured we can fill in the gaps on the 360 with a full suite of NavCam's of the deck. Hopefully the remaining images will make it to JPL soon, I'm really looking forward to seeing all the different versions

Keep up the excellent processing

[Julius]

It might be premature to ask but any working hypothesis as to the origin of Rubin ridge?

[Ant103]

And, to complete the trio.

[Art Martin]

In all those wonderful photos there's a ridge ahead with a rock layer on top and steep walls below it. I see no obvious places to climb over it in the wide section we are seeing. Is our path off to the left of what we're looking at with a gradual slope somewhere?

[Sean]

Click thru for a video of the horizon area featured in the recent pano...



And in delicious 4k on Youtube

More on the route ahead...

[serpens]

[quote name='Art Martin' date='Dec 19 2017, 03:37 PM' post='238015']
... there's a ridge ahead with a rock layer on top and steep walls below it. I see no obvious places to climb over it...
[/quote
That ridge is a remnant of what Anderson and Bell termed the "mound skirting unit" which was protected by fan material from the channel, now eroded back. If you watch Sean's impressive video titled Hematite and Clay, towards the end the rather benign area of the proposed path, towards at the rear left side of the fan is visible (around time stamp 1.45).

[Sean]

I think I recall this is the area where Curi will ascend...just before the dunes on the left



Hopefully 'The Stooke' or Fernando will confirm or correct.

[serpens]

Around past the dunes I believe, unless they have significantly changed the basic route. Image from https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia2...xtended-mission

Attached thumbnail(s)