Doug... wrote:
OK, George, I'll buy that. Now, explain to me how you get a landslide
on what appears to be topography that is extraordinarily flat for miles
and miles in all directions?

But just how flat is it? Have you seen the Opportunity landing bounce
reconstruction? The initial bounce was to the north, yet with each
successive bounce the path curved dramatically toward the west. I
suppose this could have been caused by a strong easterly wind, although
I'm a bit skeptical that such a thin atmosphere could cause something so
massive to alter course that much. East is also not the typical wind
diection given the plumes on the craters.

Perhaps the terrain isn't as flat as it appears to be? Perhaps there is
a slope to the whole plain, or perhaps there is a more localized slope,
maybe from the ejecta from the large crater to the east. I suppose the
answer is in the MOLA data, or perhaps in a 3-D ME image of the area
(although I'm not aware of one of these yet).


--
Greg Crinklaw
Astronomical Software Developer
Cloudcroft, New Mexico, USA (33N, 106W, 2700m)

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