Monthly Archives: January 2011

New images have come back from Oppy, and the MER team have given two more of the rocks around Oppy names, naming them after members of the Santa Maria’s crew. Say hello, everyone, to Pedro de Villa, another exposed plate … Continue reading →

That 3D pic shows that Oppy has now positioned her robot arm’s instrument payload above the exposed bedrock slab known as Luis de Torres (which I might call “LdT” from now on; it’s a lot to type every time!), in … Continue reading →

Some new images came back from Oppy, and I’ve finally been able to make a colour picture of the rock Terreros… …and in 3D, of course… …and sharpened and enhanced and played about with until it screamed “No more! Please!!!” … Continue reading →

Oppy is getting ready to start studying the exposed slabs of bright bedrock christened Luis de Torres. Today some raw images hit the Exploratorium website that allowed me, finally, to make a proper colour portrait of the feature… I must … Continue reading →

The MER team has now started giving names to some of the rocks and features in Oppy’s field of view as she begins her study of “Yuma”. The rocks are being named after members of Christopher Columbus’ crew, and I’m … Continue reading →

Oppy has bumped a little bit closer to Yuma, and this is the new view – which, to be honest, isn’t dramatically different to the previous view, but we can see a little more detail… … and in 3D… Oppy … Continue reading →

Yet again, Mars Exploration Rover driver Scott Maxwell has given up some of his valuable time to answer some questions for “Road to Endeavour”! This time I asked him about Santa Maria, and what comes next… Ok, so, here we … Continue reading →

Oppy has now reached a point on the southern side of Santa Maria from where she has a much clearer view of Yuma, the small, shallow depression where MER scientists are confident they will be able to find, and study, … Continue reading →

Oppy is slowly but surely closing in on the small, flattened area on the south east of Santa Maria known as “Yuma”… Here’s the latest view – Yuma is the small, bay-like region on the far left…   How will Oppy get over … Continue reading →

One of the most fascinating aspects of Oppy’s amazing journey along the Road to Endeavour is how our views of the faraway hills or Endeavour’s rim keep changing. As the local topography rises and drops, the amount of detail we … Continue reading →