6th April 2014 Sol 622

I am visiting Thurso, which is on the far north Scottish coast.  The Institute of Mechanical Engineers, associated with the Dounreay nuclear facility, invited me to give a talk about Curiosity. One of the advantages of talks like this is that it is a good way of visiting the various analogue sites in the UK.  This part of the coast has famous Devonian era rocks (‘Old Red Sandstone’).  They were deposited as sand and mud 429-360 million years ago in shallow lakes. The eroded pits and ripple marks are similar to what we are seeing in Gale Crater around Mt. Remarkable.  Although Gale Crater probably didnt experience tropical conditions and provide a habitat for fish (!) as the Devonian did, it may be an excellent analogue for the physical conditions of lake sedimentation that Gale underwent.

Meanwhile our main drilling at Windjana has been succesful and we are waiting for MastCam and MAHLI images.