Apologies for the lack of updates to RtE recently, but a combination of more problems with the sites that share the images from Opportunity, a busy time at work, and a general lack of news has conspired to mean that even if I’d had the time to write anything there hasn’t been anything new to write about! But a few new images have come back, which I will happily share with you here.
First, let’s check where Oppy is…
She’s on the northern edge of Cape York, and has stopped driving to take a closer look at that flat plate of rock you see there just below the instrument package on the end of the robot arm. In a recent post I shared a mosaic showing a close-up view of part of the surface of one of the rocks in this area. Well, Oppy is now working on one of these plates of rocks a lot more closely, and has used her RAT – Rock Abrasion Tool – to clean off its surface, revealing the rock beneath. here’s a 3D view of the RAT going about its business…
At the end of that, when the robot arm pulled away, Oppy had left this mark on the rock…
…and here’s a close-up, enhanced view of that cleaned area…
Wonder what the MER science team saw on that rock that made them slam on Oppy’s brakes and order her to take a closer look? Guess we’ll find out soon…
On tthe right of the cleared spot I see a nerve cell complete wiht dendrites and all…
Do we have to look for intelligence IN Mars in stead of ON Mars?