On the Road Again - volume 4 - Page 10

The Spaceflight Now article is looking at clays at Endeavour Crater, the goal of this traverse. I don't see anything that suggests clays have been found at Concepcion.

"The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft has found clay-bearing rocks lying directly in the path ahead for the Mars rover Opportunity... driving dozens of feet each day toward Endeavour crater that is surrounded by carbonate-rich rock types..."

Carbonates at Endeavour? I've not heard that. Let me check around...

Clays 101. Clays (or phyllosilicates) are class of mineral that result from the weathering of feldspars in an igneous rock in the presence of water. As in the case of serpentine and olivine/pyroxene, clays are another smoking gun for water.

It is also thought that clays, with electrical charges on their platy surfaces, also serve as a "template" that allow simple amino acids to combine into more complex molecules (like DNA), so there is a bio-connection.

We'll be at Concepcion Monday, unless it's an off-day...

--Bill

DX, here is my calculated sol 2133 position on a 2X map that includes Concepcion crater.

I do my maps before I check Tesheiner's Roure Map on UMSF so that the calculation is independent.

I use triangulation of features in the images that I can locate on the base map.

I think that most times my calculation is within a couple of meters of the actual position.

Thanks, Horton for those very informative links. I can't help thinking "tar sands" when I look at those blocks that are sandy on the upper side and dark on the lower side.

The update on the mars meteorites was also fascinating. I think the "reductio ad absurdum" for the UMSF blog is that they are forbidden discussion of even peer-reviewed papers concerning the biological potential.

Bill Harris, re your 181, I'm not going to chase the references right now. but as I remember, clay is thought to be a significant minor component of the bright bedrock at Meridiani. Overall the rock is about half sulphate salts and half siliciclastic debris with some of the later water-altered all the way to clay, perhaps nontronite.

A lot of the slab-like debris at the rim of the crater might be duricrust from torn-up dunes rather than bedrock. That might explain the darker color on the underside.

Yesterol's Nav- and Pancams are up at Exploratorium, expect the current images later this evening (hopefully...)

Many L257 Pancams of the bedrock away from the crater ejecta, with a view of interesting bedding planes:

And Autonomous Driving in action...

either Oppy "saw" that approaching dune and got nervous or she started having wheel slip.

--Bill

sol 2134 ( Jan 24, 2010 ) false color pan of bedrock about 50 meters north of Concepcion crater:

with a location link.

No clear evidence of cross-bedding but this area shows a greater degree of erosion than the flat areas further back.

Sol 2136 ( Jan 26, 2010 ) R0 1x5 180 degree panorama of Concepcion. Now about 17 meters from the northern rim.

Great, we're here. It'll take some careful navigating with all the litter around.

However, given Sprit's predicament, I would have been inclined to have driven around the small crater in the sand, especially since it is clearly visible from HiRISE.

--Bill

Here is the sol 2136 ( Jan 26, 2010 ) map position with links to photos from this location.

The largest block visible so far is about 1/2 meter in diameter.

Hi Hort

Here's an anaglyph of the crater from your 191 above.

[url=http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/705090_JEQRs#774663351_njoxi-A-LB] [/url]

Looking forward to seeing the colour images.

Does anyone know how it compares in size with the heat shield mini crater? It does seem to have some resemblance with that crater.

Winston

Interesting round thing in Concepcion on the 10 o'clock position, like a big lump of rock and the ejecta seems to have a larger spread from the 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock zone.

Could be an interesting stop.

The crater seems to have a "Y" shape. This suggests the impactor may have broken into two pieces as it gouged out the crater. Presumably the impactor hit in the branching direction.

Not necessarily. Asymmetrical ejecta blankets are not uncommonly seen around small, freh craters on Mars. Go to HiRISE and search on "fresh crater" "new crater" or browse the Impact Processes category.

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/science_themes/impact_1.php

--Bill

Eight L257 images ( but no right eye? ) called "NorthEast_Survey are scheculed for tody.

Left side, about half way down. Unusual segmented rock with alternating light and dark layers. Generally cone-shaped, with polygonal cross-sections.

In reply 197, that should be right side, not left side.

sol 2137 L257 4x2 of NE survey:

Does anyone else find this a strange target?

Why not look at the crater with the pancam???

It is a strange target, but this is an atypical area. We are right at the outer edge of the ejecta blanket of a recent crater and this is a good chance to study Martian depositional processes.

Look closely. This is a mantling deposit. Looks rather like elephant skin. Look at the Blueberries. Scattered throughout, they don't make the neat bed-of-BBs armoring. This is a documentation photo as we approach the crater.

--Bill