Exploration of Cape York - Vol 5

It's time for a new volume of this topic. Virtually every new posting generates an error - so:

sol 3083 ( Sep 25, 2012 ) 3rd brush of Whitewater Lake:

before the grind:

Today's plan: more brushing and 4 MIs.

Volume 4 is here.

Hort;

At the risk of incurring your "er". It looks as if there is some strangeness going on with the pancam images pre and post the whitewater brush. Your composite image above, of the raw sol 3083 images, shows a prominent blue stain with a sub circular outlet, rather like a microchannel, emanating from the stained area. The stain is practically central in the images. The stain is probably not dusting from the RAT brushing because of the pattern of its deposition, although that is possible I suppose. However, the earlier images of the area with the stain does NOT show the stain. It therefore seems to have developed over just about 2 days.

It is those earlier images that seem to be doing a disappearing act.

Any thoughts on this?

Winston

OK;

Oops! My internet connection was acting up and indicating that it was displaying some partial earlier images. hence the confusion. The light blue areas are indeed the RAT brushings.

Winston

sol 3078,3080,3083 animation of Whitewater Lake rock RAT brush:

My thoughts are in the Flickr comments.

What will be absolutely interesting is the color of the rock under the blue. If we see, for example yellow or red then ding-ding-ding we have a winner!

sol 3087 ( Sep 30, 2012 ) MI pan after the grind and brush:

A nice long APXS integration should be next on the menu.

Note the crack opening up into a V-shaped feature at the left in Horton's reply 5 image. Is that a "micro" version of an alluvial fan?

Are we seeing some frost in this curi image?

Winston

Oops! Wrong thread for image above, should be in Curi topic.

Still blue?

sol 3083-3090 ( Sep 25-Oct 3, 2012 ) enhanced difference false color animation before / after grind of Whitewater Lake rock:

The ground surface looks pretty much the same color as the brushed surface.

The RAT tailings on the left are somewhat darker than the ground rock - but I think that is just a shadowing effect.

Whitewater Lake rock. Again the result from this action is a clumped sticky material. And then, what is this? I think Mars is wetter and more brine(y) than we know about. Ok this is grinded from a rock, think about this: If we grind a rock here on Earth, the result is fine powder laying around in small mounds, no clumping, only dust. Then try do this in a wet foggy room, what would you see?

One thing I find interesting: the tailings and debris that have been dumped onto the nearby micro-channel. Seems to include some spherical objects.

This may also tell us something about the micro-channel material, especially if we monitor it for future changes.

No skid marks, craters, or indentation from the larger pieces of debris. Does this mean the micro-channel surface is hard, even though smooth?

[link]

The monthly TPS update.

Quote:

"Everything is going really well," said Squyres. "People are going to have to be patient with us on this one though. I don't want to rush. I don't want to make the mistake of thinking we know what we're looking at because it sort of looks like something we've seen before, and then making a few slap-dash measurements and heading off to the next thing," he said, pausing.

"It's when you see something you don't understand," Squyres added, "that the opportunity for discovery arises."

re14: Cant help but that statement of Squyres sounds like a little sideswipe to the recent MSL press conference.
Nevertheless he is right - an in-depth and comprehensive analysis - all thats possible with the remaining capabilities - is in order here.

Another quote from the TPS report:

"The temperatures have come up a bit, to where we like to see them -- up to about 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) in daytime and dropping to -10 C (14F) or so overnight, which is a nice place to operate."

Those are Earth-like temperatures (albeit summer days mixed with winter nights). So Meridiani seems to be warmer than Gale at this time.

Barsoomer;

Were the temperatures air or surface temps?

Winston

I think those temperatures are probably referring to the internal systems of the rover itself.

Unusual surface patterns in the rocks at the bottom of this image.

Supervein or ... fossilized Martian rockworm?

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