From what I hear from insiders it’s not a pretty picture. Staff cuts have had a huge impact on the Mars missions, it’s surprising some outreach functions are still working. The MSL raw image server is very fragile recently and goes down on a frequent basis. I have nothing but praise for those remaining staff for doing their best for holding what’s left together. The redesign of the mission pages was a disaster, but there’s no going back on that by the looks of things. I’m expecting what’s left to deteriorate further if additional cuts are made. Watch this space

And they just bumped up to a new workspace… (1078) :) Arm work to follow :)

Map : Headed back to a region previously explored

Pity that it’s not an automatic process, but it seems that it’s a rather complex process that has to be adjusted for each batch of images. However the MastCam-Z team at MSSS do a great job of keeping up with the huge numbers of images gathered

What is up with the colour

I’m assuming you’re referring to the overall image quality?

If so it’s a raw image (calibrated) Here’s an earlier image of an abrasion bit inspection that has been calibrated by the MastCam-Z team (Sol 1447)

It is an imprint of the abrasion tool that grinds away the weathered surface of rocks so the chemistry of the rock can be measured with the rovers instruments

Closer:

Map

Drive data

They could spend months investigating just the stuff you could throw a stone at from here, but I guess they’ll pack up soon and head away?

There are a few places that come close (Desert areas), but no exact matches. Here are a few that come close

https://www.bbcearth.com/news/the-places-where-you-can-visit-mars-on-earth

I used to own a small collection of pebbles that I’d gathered on my travels, each triggered fond memories of places visited. But all were left at my old place when I moved. For whatever reason I failed to start a new collection since moving. You’re right, I am drawn to the polished cobbles, some of them remind me of desert varnish. However if I could only pick one to place on my desk, then it would have be one of the small iron meteorites that have been spotted by the rovers. There are some nice SuperCam’s of this target, but my poor processing skills of those raw images don’t add any value

It’s almost like the DSN is teasing us :)

Can’t wait to see the close-ups :)

3rd times a charm?

instead of a royalty free cinema-psychology-emotion-symphony track.

Here an good voice over with some cool observations etc… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMd2A1Wljfc

I hope that we’ll get all that raw data soon

It would seem bigger, but this is imaged with a wide angle lens. The lander has a lot more cameras, I’m sure we’ll get some better shots of Earth and a nice panorama of the lander’s surroundings in the coming days It’s mission will only last 60 days, so they have a lot to do in a short time.

I really admired and miss that guy.