I noticed subframe colour images coming down from the 100mm Mastcam so I decided to take a break from reading internal medicine and stitching them up. The results:
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| True colour mosaic of 'Rocknest' sol 76 (NASA/JPL/MSSS/mosaic by me) |
What we're seeing here is the cluster of volcanic rocks (most likely vesicular basalt because it looks 'bubbly' attesting to the gases it once held when it was still molten rock) aptly named 'Rocknest'. Notice the drifts of sand around them. They act as a sort of wind breaker and any dust/light aeolian material is dropped off around them. The drift that Curiosity is investigating right now stems from these rocks influencing their environment.
The ChemCam instrument is also being used to investigate these rocks. We can see the results of yesterday's 'shootings' in the image returned below:
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| The small bullseye in the middle is in the order of microns in diameter (NASA/JPL/LANL) |
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