A typical Martian rock on Mount Sharp
Click for full 360 degree panorama.
Click for full image.
Cool image time! The photo to right, taken by the Mars rover Curiosity on August 9, 2022, provides a nice close-up of what might be a somewhat typical rock on the flanks of Mount Sharp in Gale Crater, many layered with some of those layers extending outward to the side for somewhat ridiculous distances as thin flakes.
The scientists call it a float rock, because they think it actually fell from the cliff dubbed Bolivar in the panorama above. Thus, it gives geologists data on the layers higher up that are not easily accessible from Curiosity’s present position.
The panorama is a mosaic created from images taken by the rover’s right navigation camera on August 8, 2022. The white arrow marks the rock. The green dot marks the approximate location on the cliff face of a previously observed recurring slope lineae, streaks that appear to come and go seasonally whose origin is still not understood.
The red dots mark my guess as to the route engineers will pick for Curiosity as it weaves its way around the other float rocks ahead.
Click for interactive map.
The saddle directly ahead of the rover has been dubbed by the science team Paraitepuy Pass. As shown on the overview map to the right, Curiosity has been carefully picking its way around similar rocks as it attempts to work its way through the pass and down into Gediz Vallis. It is not quite there, but once it turns the corner it will finally get its first good look into this canyon, after ten years of travel to reach it.
The yellow lines mark the approximate area covered by the panorama. The marker layer is a specific geological layer that scientists have identified from orbital images in many locations at about the same elevation on the flanks of Mount Sharp. The large red dots indicate Curiosity’s original planned route, with the smaller red dots indicating its probable route to get back to that path.
The pace of travel in this rough terrain has been slow, because of rocks like the one above. It also appears that Curiosity’s pace from now on will always be as slow, because all of the terrain ahead appears as rough. The rover has left the soft gentle floor of Gale Crater. It is now climbing a mountain.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
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Click for full 360 degree panorama.
Click for full image.
Cool image time! The photo to right, taken by the Mars rover Curiosity on August 9, 2022, provides a nice close-up of what might be a somewhat typical rock on the flanks of Mount Sharp in Gale Crater, many layered with some of those layers extending outward to the side for somewhat ridiculous distances as thin flakes.
The scientists call it a float rock, because they think it actually fell from the cliff dubbed Bolivar in the panorama above. Thus, it gives geologists data on the layers higher up that are not easily accessible from Curiosity’s present position.
The panorama is a mosaic created from images taken by the rover’s right navigation camera on August 8, 2022. The white arrow marks the rock. The green dot marks the approximate location on the cliff face of a previously observed recurring slope lineae, streaks that appear to come and go seasonally whose origin is still not understood.
The red dots mark my guess as to the route engineers will pick for Curiosity as it weaves its way around the other float rocks ahead.
Click for interactive map.
The saddle directly ahead of the rover has been dubbed by the science team Paraitepuy Pass. As shown on the overview map to the right, Curiosity has been carefully picking its way around similar rocks as it attempts to work its way through the pass and down into Gediz Vallis. It is not quite there, but once it turns the corner it will finally get its first good look into this canyon, after ten years of travel to reach it.
The yellow lines mark the approximate area covered by the panorama. The marker layer is a specific geological layer that scientists have identified from orbital images in many locations at about the same elevation on the flanks of Mount Sharp. The large red dots indicate Curiosity’s original planned route, with the smaller red dots indicating its probable route to get back to that path.
The pace of travel in this rough terrain has been slow, because of rocks like the one above. It also appears that Curiosity’s pace from now on will always be as slow, because all of the terrain ahead appears as rough. The rover has left the soft gentle floor of Gale Crater. It is now climbing a mountain.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
It’s interesting how rectangular that rock is!
Minor edit in penultimate paragraph: “with the smaller red dots indicating its probable route to get back to that path.”
Andi. Fixed. Thank you!
I look at that rock and I think sedimentary. When I think sedimentary I think water.
Turn it on its side, split it and look for fossils.
“Deepdale”….”Boliver”….Invading colonial’s names – WE MUST CALL THEM BY THE NAMES THE MARTIANS HAVE GIVEN THEM !!!
Ok, it’s Bolivar, not Boliver
‘I love to go a-wandering
Along a Martian hill
And as I go, the rocks I see
Give scientist a thrill’
First peek over the saddle.
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=51600
The latest view (sol 3560) from Jan van Driel
Is looking at rocks on Mars still “geology” or have we decided there will be a different name for “looking at rocks” on each planet? Xenogeology makes some sense, right now, but as the list of planets grows, that will become an odd distinction. (Is it xenogeology if it’s a Martian resident looking at Martian rocks?)
markedup2,
How about areionology? The apoapsis (apogee)and periapsis (perigee) for Mars are called apareion and periareion, with areion being the suffix, based upon the Greek god Ares. Areion may be a suitable prefix.