NASA's Mars Exploration Program (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) 

Sol 3423: Studying the Silly Place

The images for panorama obtained by the rover's 34-millimeter Mast Camera. The mosaic, which stretches about 30,000 pixels width, includes 128 images taken on Sol 3423 (March 23, 2022).

No, Silly Place hasn’t become a new place name, but I totally agree with Ryan, who was yesterday’s blogger, that this is not our usual terrain. Would I want to go for a hike there, if I could? Sure, but very carefully, because this isn’t a place to risk a fall. Too many pointy rocks, so, silly place certainly fits. The MAHLI image above is probably somewhere in the pile of rocks you saw under the turret in yesterday’s image. From up close, you can admire the nature of those rocks: broken up with sharp edges. The eagle-eyed geologists amongst you might think they look like ventifacts, my fellow blogger Mark had mentioned those already in his sol 3419-3420 blog. Ventifacts are rocks, shaped by wind coming from the same direction(s) for a very long time. The wind carries fine particles that cause the abrasion to shape those rocks. But, as we all know, looks can always deceive at first glance. So, to get behind what actually happened here, and especially why it happened in some ridges that give the gator-back impression, Curiosity is taking many more images today and of course adding some chemistry to the mix, too!

APXS investigates the target “Breakyneck,” which is one of those sharp and angular rocks, and “Redscarhead,” which is a smoother looking and more flat rock that looks different, more like the bedrock we saw earlier. ChemCam has two chemistry investigations, pointing LIBS at “Breakyneck” and at another pointy, sharp-edged rock called “Swinton.”

Mastcam takes a record seeking 132 frames divided into four observations. Of course, always faithful to ChemCam, there are two images to document each of the LIBS targets. And then there is a large 69 frame mosaic on what was dubbed a gator back – more geologically speaking it is a ridge made of ventifacted rocks. The remaining 61 frames are looking at the landscape behind the ridge in front of us to find out how the washboard impression we have from orbit links to the ground observations. ChemCam has two imaging observations, too, both of them looking into the distance at the big outcrop on the other side of the plateau to find out more about the many sedimentary structures visible in this area. Finally, Mastcam also pleases the mineralogists and takes a multispectral image on the target “Calder,” which is yesterday’s APXS target.

The next drive is short to an area we have seen more rock textures, and where we hope to find out a lot more about this interesting area. Stand by for more images of sharp, pointy, laminated, and otherwise interesting rocks.

Written by Susanne Schwenzer

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