On the Road Again - volume 3

sol 2002 in the next drive direction from Block Island:

Looks like Oppy is ready to rove again.

I am starting a new volume of the topic "On The Road Again" because the old one has so many comments that it is causing "to many connections" errors. ( Yet another bug in the blogging software. )

Looks like MIs under Block Island will not be done. The science team doesn't think there is a pedistal???

L257 Block Island "walk around" montage:

with links to animation, super 3D of Siah's swamp.

All of these images were full filter. When they are all downloaded I will process all of them in "color by Horticolor".

sol 2004 ( Sep 13, 2009 ) R0 3x1:

about 30 meters SE of the sol 1946 / 1954 position.

Then headed westward again?

Distinctive pattern of rectangles (the dark outlines) extending over a linear region. What could cause this? Buried ice expanding and contracting?

Barsoomer, this doesnt looks like frost polygons, it doesnt look like dustdevil tracks either if you ask me. Maybe we get a closer view of it later...

sol 2004 ( Sep 13, 2009 ) Rover tracks westward:

Barsoomer, the reply 3 dark rectangles are rover tracks.

sol 2006 ( Sep 15, 2009 ) L0 3x1 of westward tracks:

Now about 90 meters from the sol 1950 position.

Well, that looks like an interesting flat cobble or rock, elevated above its fellow rocks.

sol 2007 ( Sep 16, 2009 ) L0 3x1 panorama:

about 30 meters from the sol 1950 position and 60 meters from Nereus crater.

sol 2009 ( Sep 18, 2009 ) Forward Hazcam after 60+ meter move westward:

Looks like Oppy is just north of Nereus crater.

I'm no expert but that crater looks really fresh. Note bits of duricrust hanging over the sides.

sol 2009 L0 3x1 near Nereus crater:

Yes, Barsoomer, it looks "fresh" to me too.

sol 2029 ( Sep 18, 2009) L6 3x1 in next drive direction:

Looks like Oppy will not be here long. There is an interesting 30 cm block on the rim of the small crater to the west of Nereus crater.

sol 2011 L0 3x1 looking west:

Blew right on by Nautilus crater. Looks like the sol 2011 drive was a 70 meter backwards drive westward.

In reply 13, that ridge crossing from one ripple to another looks a little curious to me. Are such criss-cross ridges an expected result of ripple formation?

sol 2013 ( Sep 22, 2009 ):

Looks like another 60+ meter backwards drive westward from Nautilus crater.

Sol 2011 ( Sep 20, 2009 ) L0 3x1 pan of Nautilus crater:

with a link to the right eye pan.

Doesn't look like any of the color pancam views of the last few craters are going to be downlinked any time soon.

sol 2015 of tracks after sol 2014, 2015 +70m backward drives westward:

An MI sequence is scheduled for today ( sol 2016 ).

It seems that there may be patches of bright soil at Meridiani as at Gusev:

Maybe that's the reason for the interest in getting MI data here. Hard-to-explain concentrations of water soluble salts make up most of the layered "bedrock", but so far the soil has been described as predominantly basaltic.

Just a quick MI and APXS measurment on sol 2016 ( Sep 25, 2009 ) :

and it's back on the road today ( sol 2017 ) in the next drive direction ( still headed westward):

Here is the small 5 meter crater "Gjoa" Oppy passed on the sol 2015 drive.

sol 2017 ( Sep 26, 2009 ) R12 4x1 panorama in next drive direction:

there is an interesting 18 meter crater about 250 meters distant.

sol 2020 ( Sep 29, 2009 ) L6R1 of another meteorite??:

with a location link.

This block is about 50 cm wide and 33 meters distant.

The sol 2020 drive was about 100 meters backwards?

What are the odds of finding two 1/2 meter meteorites within less than a km of one another that are NOT part of the same event???