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