First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

Lars_J · 2004-04-30 22:57:50

Check it out:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opport … ...0M1.JPG

Rxke · 2004-05-01 01:23:51

boy, looks mighty steep... wonder if Opp will get the gren light to get actually inside the crater...

Pic's too dim/grainy to say anything, but it DOES look interesting, lot's off different rocks, that dark area, the lighter patches at Opp's place etc...

Michael Bloxham · 2004-05-01 03:10:22

Wow! Bedrock looks thinner than expected... Outcrop on farside rim obviously can't be studied in much detail, pity; the outcrop directly beneath Opportunity seems to form a inviting ramp into the center. Interesting land-slide features and erosian under the overhanging outcrop; wavy dunes extending up the right rim. Magnificent! :laugh:

Stu · 2004-05-01 03:38:53

Boulders and outcrops and dunes, oh my...

http://www.lyle.org/~markoff/collection … navcam.jpg

Stu · 2004-05-01 03:43:17

And in colour now, too...

http://www.lyle.org/~markoff/processed/ … ...7M1.JPG

Shaun Barrett · 2004-05-01 08:35:41

I showed my wife the detailed picture of the interior of Endurance. She took one look at the bottom of the crater and said: "That's ice!"
I said it was probably more likely to be sand dunes, judging by the shape, but she still maintains its dirty ice. Back in the seventies, she climbed Kilimanjaro on a 5-month trip through Africa (she was pretty fit at the time but it still nearly killed her! ). She says the ice near the mountain's summit took on similar wind-tortured shapes as it sublimed, ever so slowly, into the thin, cold, dry air.

Now she's got me wondering! Who knows? Maybe she's right. Wouldn't that be a blast?!!

cassioli · 2004-05-01 08:38:40

I showed my wife the detailed picture of the interior of Endurance. She took one look at the bottom of the crater and said: "That's ice!"
I said it was probably more likely to be sand dunes, judging by the shape, but she still maintains its dirty ice. Back in the seventies, she climbed Kilimanjaro on a 5-month trip through Africa (she was pretty fit at the time but it still nearly killed her! ). She says the ice near the mountain's summit took on similar wind-tortured shapes as it sublimed, ever so slowly, into the thin, cold, dry air.
Now she's got me wondering! Who knows? Maybe she's right. Wouldn't that be a blast?!!

I suppose we'll know it as soon as Opportunity will take a couple of snapshots with the color camera and with the spectrometer (if not too much dust covers the ice...).

Luca

RobS · 2004-05-01 09:24:19

What incredible pictures. It's hard to say how steep the sides are. Note the other side looks steeper than the near side. But perspective is radically different between the two. If the outcrop along the top is just a foot thick, like in the little landing crater, our perception of the steepness would be very different.

Did you see all the blueberries in the foreground? They're everywhere.

What I wonder about is the material under the "caprock" (the thin layer on top). The caprock is blueberry-rich evaporite, I suppose. The material underneath seems blockier (in the big blobs of outcrops), less layered, and more massive. Basalt? Sandstone? They can probably get Opportunity in by zigzagging it down.

-- RobS

Lars_J · 2004-05-01 10:59:16

Yes, entering on this side and slowly spiraling down is probably the best way to enter and exit the crater.

Palomar · 2004-05-01 11:15:57

Check it out:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opport … ...0M1.JPG

*I think that's one of the weirdest pics of Mars I've yet seen.

Beautiful...but weird.

--Cindy

ERRORIST · 2004-05-01 18:58:11

Looks like spring water making it down the right side.It disappears beneath the side and reappears as it nears the bottom as a ice flow.

Shaun Barrett · 2004-05-01 19:32:33

I think this is one of the most exciting areas of Mars I've ever seen. I just can't wait to find out what's in this beautiful crater.
God! Wouldn't you love to be there in your MarsSkin, rock hammer in hand?!! I think I'd pass out from the delirium and have to be dragged back to the Hab by my heels!!
:laugh:

ERRORIST · 2004-05-01 19:56:04

A few sticks of dynamite would do some good also.

atomoid · 2004-05-01 21:48:35

Yes, entering on this side and slowly spiraling down is probably the best way to enter and exit the crater.

still sounds pretty risky, considering how much trouble it had on that little slope in Eagle crater, was it that it was slipping with all those ball bearings blueberries under its wheels? or just that the sand was loose and had no real bite and just fluffed out as the wheels spun? either way, it seemed to dig itself into quite a rut going up the side of that little slope, and this slope looks quite a bit more intimidating...

If they find it might be too risky to go in until they've circumnavigated the rim and checked out other areas of interest in the vicinity, then maybe while theyre at it they can go check out the heatshield impact zone which is just a tiny jaunt away from the other side of the crater to see if it gouged a deep groove for the MI to look into. it would also be interesting to see what kind of effects Mars entry had on the heatshield (this should prove to be good engineering feedback to optimize future heatshield designs, and would be the first such results from atmospheric entry on another planet).

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#1 2004-04-30 22:57:50

Re: First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

#2 2004-05-01 01:23:51

Re: First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

#3 2004-05-01 03:10:22

Re: First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

#4 2004-05-01 03:38:53

Re: First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

#5 2004-05-01 03:43:17

Re: First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

#6 2004-05-01 08:35:41

Re: First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

#7 2004-05-01 08:38:40

Re: First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

#8 2004-05-01 09:24:19

Re: First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

#9 2004-05-01 10:59:16

Re: First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

#10 2004-05-01 11:15:57

Re: First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

#11 2004-05-01 18:58:11

Re: First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

#12 2004-05-01 19:32:33

Re: First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

#13 2004-05-01 19:56:04

Re: First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

#14 2004-05-01 21:48:35

Re: First view inside Endurance! - Wow...

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