Tag Archives: phyllosilicates

Opportunity field report, June 20, 2016

Posted on June 22, 2016 by rburnham

Sol 4410, June 20, 2016; Rover Field Report by Larry Crumpler, MER Science Team & New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science: Opportunity is finishing up its activities here in Marathon Valley on the western rim of the 22 km-diameter … Continue reading →

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Opportunity: Where we’re at

Posted on May 19, 2016 by rburnham

Sol 4379, May 19, 2016. The rover is slowly exploring the head of Marathon Valley, where the rocks show evidence (detected from orbit by CRISM) of alteration by water, which produced clay minerals. This Navcam view (click to enlarge) looks … Continue reading →

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Opportunity report by A.J.S. Rayl, The Planetary Society

Posted on May 11, 2016 by rburnham

May 10, 2016: Opportunity Sleuths New Site for Smectites: After capturing a rare image of a dust devil whirling through the interior of Endeavour Crater at the end of March, Opportunity and the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) team pressed on … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: Nili Fossae – false color

Posted on April 27, 2016 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, April 27, 2016. Today’s false color image shows part of Nili Fossae. The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. … Continue reading →

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Opportunity: Looking downslope

Posted on April 7, 2016 by rburnham

Sol 4338, April 7, 2016. After shooting the view upslope on Sol 4337, the Navcam continued its panorama from north (left side) through east to southeast (right). One frame from Sol 4337 (third from right) links the left and right … Continue reading →

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Opportunity: Seeking clay minerals

Posted on April 5, 2016 by rburnham

Sols 4335-6, April 4-5, 2016. After driving back closer to the head of Marathon Valley, where slopes are not as steep, Opportunity’s Pancam has shot a series of filtered images to identify likely outcrop targets to examine closely. The warm-tinted … Continue reading →

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Opportunity: Moving higher for firmer ground & clay minerals

Posted on March 23, 2016 by rburnham

Sol 4323, March 23, 2016. Opportunity is exploring Marathon Valley because orbital spectrometry found exposures of water-altered clay minerals in the valley. But with the ground proving too loose to allow Opportunity to reach its intended outcrop target at Pvt. … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Clays exposed by an impact

Posted on November 9, 2015 by rburnham

Clays exposed by an impact in Tyrrhena Terra  — Tyrrhena Terra is south of the Martian equator and immediately northeast of the giant Hellas basin. Beautiful Mars series.

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Opportunity: Searching for water-altered rocks

Posted on October 13, 2015 by rburnham

Sol 4165, October 12, 2015. More scouting the outcrops on the Marathon Valley floor. The rocks of greatest interest are those that have a faint reddish tinge in false-color Pancam images (such as these by Holger Isenberg). These are believed … Continue reading →

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Opportunity: Tracing patterns on the floor

Posted on October 8, 2015 by rburnham

Sol 4159, October 6, 2015. As Opporutnity’s Navcam shot a composite image (above) looking southeast across Endeavour Crater, the Pancam shot a mosaic (below) covering some of the enigmatic patterns in the rock outcrops on the floor of Marathon Valley. … Continue reading →

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