SuperCam has chosen (directed by AEGIS or an Earth-based geologist?) to have a closer look at this group of smaller rocks, nestled among larger equally interesting-looking (to a Non-Geologist™) rocks.
@tom30519
If #NASA were to anthropomorphize like everything #AI, this is how they could be doing it (reality in parentheses):
"We've created a superhuman thing (#Perseverance), which was brought to Mars by a stork (SkyCrane) to live in frigid cold, without food (RTG), and which can:
• roam the planet (wheels)
• eat rocks (drill)
• see through the ground (RIMFAX)
• find interesting things (AEGIS)
• cook interesting things (w/ laser)
• smell them (spectral analysis)
Piercing through the haze of those faint ocher images #Perseverance captured on Sol 792, and just downlinked, reveals the eastern rim of Jezero Crater and the summit of Jezero Mons.
Here is my take on the dust devil @kevinmgill discovered hiding in a NAVCAM image. The image is roughly undistorted but precisely leveled 🤓 . A context map with a possible location follows.
Context map showing orientation and FOV of the NAVCAM eye that captured the image above (green area). Te green dotted line shows the direction of the dust devil, and a possible location of it (distance ~550m, azimuth 340°) #Perseverance#Mars2020#Solarocks#Space#localization
The post confirms that #Perseverance had significant difficulties talking to the #MarsHelicopter in that area, something visibility plots (+below horizon estimates) were suggesting before the flight (https://mastodon.social/@65dBnoise/110102587325157180). Interestingly, Brown says this is the first time they had a complete blackout of radio communications.
that could increase radio coverage and allow the helicopter team to plan their extended mission relatively independently from both #Perseverance and the future #SRL (Sample Return Lander).
That #NASA post shows that many of the unexplained delays and/or change of plans can be attributed to the difficulty of coordinating #Perseverance's mission with the requirements imposed by #Ingenuity, especially when it operates in sub-optimal conditions, despite the efforts of both teams to carry out the plans.
It also suggests that an extended mission for the two future Mars Sample Return helicopters (#SRH) will have to be very carefully planned, and possibly include a "mesh network"
"The science team suspects the large boulders in the foreground are either chunks of bedrock exposed by the meteorite impact or that they may have been transported into the crater by the river system."
The image is a sample from the red/blue 3D anaglyph on that post:
Map showing the new name Echo Creek where #Perseverance captured the panoramas in the #NASA post linked above. On Sol 772 the rover was at RMC 39.0650, where it abraded a rock, which got the name Solitude Lake.
@PaulHammond51
Nah, #Ingenuity is fine. It's just deeply behind that hill. I'm sure Ingenuity's team has already figured out the extent of radio propagation on this type of terrain, but coordinating with #Perseverance's team is difficult, as that team work the details of their next few days plan as they go. So they fly ahead of them, and then have to wait in the dark when the others decide to examine some scientifically interesting rocks. That's all.
The weather in Jezero, Mars, according to the MEDA instrument onboard #Perseverance.
Report Sol: 814
High temperatures ranged from -24.8C to -19.3C while low temperatures kept steady around -77.6C, this past week. High temperatures are still way below the highest seen by the rover since the start of its mission on Mars (0.7C on Sol 405, AFAICT).
Also notable is the steady pressure decline during the past month or so.
So, we are not very far from the truth if we call the Martian regolith found in the western Jezero delta, 'sand'. Analysis of the regolith samples #Perseverance took from Observation Tower shows it contains about 45% silica (SiO2) and 25% iron oxides (FeO-T).
From Wikipedia:
"Many sands, especially those found extensively in Southern Europe, have iron impurities within the quartz crystals of the sand, giving a deep yellow color." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand
#Perseverance moved ~6m to the north, possibly positioning itself better for some upcoming proximity science. The Uzel Falls abrasion is about 3m in front and to the right of the rover.
The white dashed track is an estimate of tosol's move.
It looks like #Perseverance drove over this little defenceless rock, perhaps on purpose. Now Mastcam-Z and SuperCam are both examining it for possible injuries, I assume. Not sure what the liability laws are like on Mars!
No evidence of laser zapping here, Percy probably thought that rolling over it was enough trauma! 😆
#Perseverance getting a sample of such a soft rock is good news!
Following the misfortune with soft rock Roubion, the first rock sample the rover tried to acquire but failed, the Mars 2020 team went on drilling rocks that were harder but, strangely, easier to core. However they were left without a sample of such a soft rock. Until now.
#Perseverance re-targeted this interesting rock, this time centering on it and capturing a pair of stereo images, as well as a number of SUPERCAM shots.
Writing in the Perseverance rover blog, Eleanor Moreland, Ph.D. Student at Rice University, discusses the scientific possibilities of the most recent abrasion at "Ozuel Falls".
#Perseverance attempted to drill that Ouzel Falls soft rock for a second time. Results don't look good, again. It appears it drilled into the patch it had abraded a few weeks ago. Notice the 16° slope of the ground.