The rover has left behind the boulder subject at “Fall River Go” for now, and we’re at present investigating an enigmatic sedimentary rock unit that was first noticed by Ingenuity throughout its 52nd flight a number of weeks in the past. This can be a nice instance of how Ingenuity’s distinctive aerial perspective may also help us scout out areas of curiosity forward of the rover. This rock is positioned inside a linear trough west of “Fall River Go” and its age relationship with the close by boulder-rich deposits is of specific curiosity, since these sediments would possibly characterize one of many remaining levels within the building of the Jezero fan. We’re additionally curious about figuring out what kind of setting this rock shaped in – may it have been deposited in a river, or a lake?
At an erosion-resistant outcrop named “Dream Lake”, the rover deployed its traditional toolkit: first utilizing its Fuel Mud Elimination Software (gDRT) to blast away the mud cowl, then performing an abrasion for science evaluation of the rock inside. The rock’s gDRT-cleaned floor intrigued us, revealing a pitted texture containing embedded rounded crystals (see the WATSON picture above). Over the weekend, we used our proximity science devices like PIXL to research the abrasion patch additional.
As we proceed to digest these information, we’re desirous about our subsequent steps as we discover this fascinating space. This week, we plan to take a brief drive south to research a unique outcrop throughout the trough that may characterize a unique variation of the identical unit or one other rock kind altogether. After that, we’ll be headed to the subsequent boulder subject to proceed our investigation. Quickly, we’ll be driving westwards to the geological contact between the fan and the margin unit at a spot named “Mandu Wall”. This may mark the top of our Higher Fan Marketing campaign and the beginning of a brand new marketing campaign to research the intriguing carbonate-bearing unit alongside the interior rim of Jezero Crater.
