Oppy has now driven across that patch of bright bedrock and is now back on the darker surface of Meridiani, steaming – if a little solar-powered rover can be said to “steam!! – south-eastwards towards her next waypoints, which I think will be another swathe of brighter bedrock and, beyond that, a pair of small craters,, the largest of which is some 30m wide…
Here’s Oppy’s latest position, according to the latest fantastic and invaluable Google Mars .kml file created by UMSF’s Tesheiner…
During one of her recent stops, Oppy took some images of the closest part of Endeavour’s rim, which a stacked together to make into this portrait of the Western Hills…
Oppy’s latest drive seems to have been around 110m, which means during her three most recent drives she’s put another 318m between her and Santa Maria crater! That’s really going some for our gal!
Oppy is now well and truly on her way to Endeavour. I think her next stop will be on another “lilly pad” of bright bedrock, and beyond that, 830m from where we are now, is that “double crater”…
It’s bit hard to tell from that image how big the craters are, so let’s magically relocate them next to Santa Maria (on the left) to see how they compare…
…and if the craters had been formed inside Santa Maria, they’d be this big…
Of course, there’s no way of knowing if Oppy will drop by those craters – the MER team might choose to bypass them, taking another route entirely – but I think they’ll think they’re worth a look, even if only to give Oppy a couple of sols rest! Because after leaving that pair of craters there’s not really much else for another 4.3km, until Oppy reaches Cape York!
More images soon, I’m sure, so keep checking back 🙂
The Road To Endeavour 