On Sol 1168 the rover moved to RMC 52.5032 across the ancient riverbed and stopped a few meters away from a light colored layer of rock at the foot of the northern bank, which appears to be the same layer with that of Bright Angel.
¹"the bacon strip": unofficial name for a light colored layer of rock back at the Three Forks area.
This Memorial Day added an interesting twist to the daily grind of #Perseverance 🙂 Not only did it clear the rest of the rego-ripples it had to the north, but took advantage of the holiday to go on a picnic at a nice hill to the northeast 😀 🙃. Apparently the hill has a geological story to tell and the team's geologists are eager to hear it.
#Ingenuity is seen here sticking its solar panel above the sandy waves of #ValinorHills in this image from Sol 1152 received today. While the solar panel of the #MarsHelicopter may still be visible from the rover at its present location on Sol 1159, it will soon disappear when #Perseverance clears the ripples it's facing on its way northwest to Bright Angel.
Another ~13m drive, -2m in elevation change for #Perseverance, along the easternmost path I mentioned yesterday. Maybe those ripples aren't that difficult to cross after all.
New location for #Perseverance on Sol 1156, after a rather short ~16m drive downhill, which brought the rover 2m lower, to RMC 52.2750. There is now a ~10m remaining vertical distance to be covered to the bottom of the riverbank and onto the ancient riverbed of Neretva Vallis.
#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
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
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.
New location for #Perseverance on Sol 1143, RMC 52.1700, presumably still within #Ingenuity's field-of-view. It appears there may be as many as 3 frames of the rover crossing the FOV of the color RTE camera of the #MarsHelicopter, now a stationary testbed collecting images, temperature and other data on a solly basis from its final location at Vallinor Hills.
#Perseverance moved to the center of the area which is most probably visible by #Ingenuity, and it could appear in one or more of the color RTE images the #MarsHelicopter is capturing every sol, if everything is going according to plan.
#Perseverance seems to be determined to reach Bright Angel as soon as possible, even if it has to do it in short drives every sol, through rocky ground.
If the #MarsHelicopter#Ingenuity does take an RTE picture every Martian morning as stated, then it will most probably capture the rover as it descends slowly the slope of Neretva riverbank. The only question then is when we will see those images.
New location for #Perseverance on Sol 1136, RMC 52.0606. If all goes smoothly, in two more similar drives the rover will be entering the field-of-view of #Ingenuity's RTE color camera, and Perseverance's team will have their last and only opportunity to have a picture of the rover captured from the ground of Mars, at least for the foreseeable future.
#Perseverance zoomed in on what appears to be the path forward on its way to Bright Angel. That area at the center where slope increases is approximately where the rover will enter the field-of-view of #Ingenuity's RTE camera, about 150m W from its current location.
Map follows
Processed, leveled MCZ_LEFT, FL: 79mm
looking W (272°) from RMC 52.0400
Sol 1135, LMST: 07:21:50
The field-of-view of the Mastcam-Z camera when it captured the image above (green). The pale red ellipse is the approximate are where Perseverance will come into view of Ingenuity's RTE camera. The red ellipse is approx. the center of the image mentioned above. The dark area is where Ingenuity is hidden from the rover.
#Perseverance is on the move again, and this time it's made its plan unambiguous: onward to Bright Angel!
Here starts a torturous trek down the ancient Neretva riverbank, to be followed by a crossing of the sandy and flat(ter) riverbed, and finally the arrival at Bright Angel, maybe by late summer.
#Ingenuity is visible, and will be so all the way down to the riverbed.
New 30m drive and new location for #Perseverance on Sol 1114, RMC 51.2990, the closest so far to #Ingenuity, just 360m south of it, and very close to the edge of the south Neretva Vallis riverbank.
Not as easy to get there, as it may appear at a first glance. Lots of loose regolith. Can the rover afford to say "we're going to cross that bridge when we get there"?
Where's that bridge? 🙃 😀
Processed, rotated MCZ_LEFT, FL: 110mm
looking W (276°) from RMC 51.2794
Sol 1112, LMST: 12:22:51
The image shows the location of Bright Angel, a light colored rock formation at the base of the ancient Neretva Vallis riverbank, where #Ingenuity's team said they planned to meet with #Perseverance, had its grounding not occurred. It is very possible that the rover will visit that area in the near future.
Processed, NAVCAM_RIGHT mosaic
looking W (270°) from RMC 51.2794
Sol 1110, LMST: 13:17:18