#Perseverance drove 10m on Sol 1150, to RMC 52.2638. As mentioned earlier, this appears to be the most difficult part of the descent to the ancient riverbed of Neretva Vallis, on the way to Bright Angel, a rock formation of geological interest.
The maps were drawn with @QGIS, using data from #NASA's #MMGIS, imagery from #HiRISE and DTMs from #USGS
New location for #Perseverance on Sol 1148, RMC 52.2540
The rover is now approaching the most difficult part of the descent, but apparently it has no problem negotiating the steep slope at a slower pace.
The maps show the estimated new location along with the guessed drive path and a number of predictions for its coming drives. It seems it will reach Bright Angel sometime between Sol 1156 and 1160, assuming no pauses.
And here is a possible path to the next stop, a point where the two alternatives, one through the nearby ripples and the other along the rocky riverbank, will start to be more visible.
Processed, undistorted, leveled, cropped NAVCAM_RIGHT quick mosaic
looking WNW (300°) from RMC 52.2540
Sol 1148, LMST: 13:00:01
This is Bright Angel, a light colored rock formation in the ancient Neretva Vallis riverbed; the next scientific target for #Perseverance .
Looking at all those loose rocks on the steep slope above it, it's good that the geologically interesting parts are (I guess) those farthest from them.
Processed, leveled MCZ_RIGHT, FL: 110mm
looking WNW (297°) from RMC 52.1950
Sol 1145, LMST: 11:22:33
Bright Angel is the western visible end of that rock layer. #Perseverance also imaged the eastern visible end of (apparently) the same layer yestersol.
Map follows
Processed for contrast, leveled MCZ_RIGHT, FL: 110mm
looking NNE (16°) from RMC 52.1950
Sol 1145, LMST: 11:28:30
Yet another rework of my speculative routes for #Perseverance to reach Bright Angel. This one shows two much faster routes (green) to the riverbed, passing through a few regolith ripples, but leading to a mostly flat and rock-free terrain.
The green route seems preferable to me (but IANAG), provided there are no scientifically interesting locations along the the south bank, which the rover has been traversing for a number of sols now (white dashed line).
New location for #Perseverance on Sol 1144, RMC 52.1950.
This may be the last location visible by #Ingenuity's RTE camera, as the rover has now reached the theoretical limit of its field-of-view (cyan line). The #MarsHelicopter has been programmed to capture one RTE image every sol for as long as it is able to wake up every sol perform its routine of gathering environmental and system data, as a stationary testbed.
The slope of the southern Neretva Vallis riverbank appears steepening at this new location. This may be the start of the hardest part of the descent to the ancient riverbed, on the way to the geologically interesting rock formation Bright Angel, the next science target for #Perseverance.
Processed, leveled NAVCAM_RIGHT quick mosaic
looking WNW (285°) from RMC 52.1950
Sol 1144, LMST: 13:03:58