La Bajada

         This mosaic was acquired by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity from Sols 4875-4883 (October 10-19, 2017). This approximately 193 degree wide field of view is of a rock target named La Bajada where there is evidence of abrasion by wind-driven sand blowing upslope from the interior of Endeavor Crater.

The rover team's winter strategy for Opportunity was to stop at north-facing locations between drives no longer than 20 meters (about 66 feet), which the team calls "lily pads", to make sure Opportunity could gather enough solar power to stay alive and keep moving through her eighth Martian winter. La Bajada was the rover's third lily pad inside of Perseverance Valley. More information about La Bajada can be found at the public release of the northern La Bajada outcropping in color.

Due to imaging during the winter, the camera team split up the color imaging and the anaglyph imaging to conserve rover power. The stereo anaglyph mosaic can be viewed here, while the color mosaic was further split into the northern outcrop and the southern outcrop. The bad lens flare in the far left frames of this mosaic are due to sunlight being scattered into the camera by dust on the front window of the camera. Pancam's 601 nm filter was used in making this mosaic. Two versions are provided at full resolution: a mosaic made from the left eye only, and a stereo anaglyph for 3D viewing through red-blue glasses.

Jim Bell
Pancam Instrument Lead
February 28, 2018