Meanwhile on Mars!
A new abrasion patch, the first outside of Jezero crater. Imaged during Sol 1360 (December 17, 2024) using one of the rover's NavCam's (roughly processed / cropped). The rover is located at site 64.1568. For scale the patch has a diameter of 2 inches (50 mm). Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Close-up, sol 1360, taken in the early afternoon
Close-up, sol 1360, taken in the evening (illuminated by LED)
This stuff doesn't superficially resemble any of the prior patches closely; this should be fun to dig into!
EDIT: fixed broken link
Interesting stuff.
Hopefully the team will release early test results on this patch :)
Time for a sample? :)
Sampling here wouldn't surprise me, given the mission's pace of late, although there's a lot more outcrop to study just downhill, which makes me wonder if they're going to be careful and selective. If the long-term plan really is to drive Percy back to the crater floor some time from now, they don't need to be quite so cautious about preserving tubes as they have been, you'd think...
I guess it would make more sense to do a little walkabout before thinking about taking another core. It's not like there is a rush with MSR on the way to Mars to collect the samples...