Welcome back to the first full day of operations after conjunction and the fifth anniversary of landing! Curiosity remained healthy over the month long break, so without missing a beat, Curiosity is ready to resume the Vera Rubin Ridge imaging campaign and the trek up Mt. Sharp.
First in this plan, several drill feed tests will be performed and will take up the bulk of the plan's time. The GEO group resumes regular science activities by investigating a couple of targets with Mastcam to look for changes over conjunction, including "Bodge Sands" and "Machias Bay." ChemCam will target "Huckins Ledge" and "Mackerel Ledge," with Mastcam providing additional imaging of those targets. Tuesday is a "soliday" to adjust the timing of the slightly longer Mars day back to a regular Earth schedule, so there will be no tactical planning.
Waiting for conjunction to finish requires patience from everyone, but it is especially frustrating for ENV. Unlike the GEO group who can confidently know that all the science in front of them before conjunction will still be there once regular communication resumes, the weather on Mars keeps happening regardless of whether we actively direct Curiosity to observe or not. So as ESTLK, I included several cadence observations in this first plan back to ensure that the gap of environmental observations was as short as possible. Navcam will image for clouds (like the clouds in the above image from Sol 1758), scan for dust devils across the crater basin, and measure the LOS extinction of dust towards the crater rim. REMS will continue its usual five-minute, top-of-the-hour blocks along with seven hour-long extended blocks, including two HRIM (High Resolution Interval Mode) measurements. DAN will take a long passive measurement.
Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.
Cameras
Spectrometers
Radiation Detectors
Environmental Sensors
One Mastcam image that will be stitched together to make a large mosaic of the hills in the distance along the rover’s upcoming traverse.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
December 19, 2022
Sometimes, I think Mars rocks are just a bunch of toddlers whom we have told to tidy their play room.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
December 16, 2022
In yesterday’s blog, Natalie Moore wrote of our continued attempts to drill “Amapari” and word from our beloved rover that our drill was still on the ground when data arrived from Mars.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
December 14, 2022
This morning’s sol 3681 planning started 2.5 hours later than usual due to orbiter timing, which gave all of us plenty of time to wait impatiently for the resulting data of our second drill attempt at “Amapari2" to radiate from Mars at ~10am PST.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
December 13, 2022
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm, on December 10, 2022, Sol 3677 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
December 12, 2022
This image was taken by Front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Front Hazcam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3676.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
December 9, 2022
After yesterday’s check-out, Curiosity is GO to attempt to make our 37th drill hole on Mars.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
December 7, 2022
The weekend drive went well and Curiosity is back on top of the marker band, investigating some intriguing rippled bedrock.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
December 5, 2022
As happens occasionally, our previous plan did not execute quite as expected.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
December 2, 2022
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3667.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
November 30, 2022
Still stuffed and feeling thankful our weekend plans were successful!
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
November 28, 2022
Thanksgiving plan part two would of course include all the traditional pleasures we know – if you are in the US that is, if you are, like me, in Europe then we’ll have to wait a few more weeks until Christmas time to have our traditional family gathering, and others again will have it at an entirely different time of the year. Curiosity, though, will celebrate all those earthly festivities by getting more science and finding out yet more about Mars and Gale crater’s rock record!
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
November 22, 2022
On a usual week of Curiosity operations, Friday plans take the longest since they span the whole weekend.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
November 21, 2022
Today was a plan chockful of goodies to cover the weekend!
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
November 21, 2022
Yesterday we weren’t able to use the arm and thus weren’t able to do contact science, but a short drive got us into a better position.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
November 16, 2022
Over the weekend Curiosity made great progress towards a location that the team identified as a good imaging stop.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
November 15, 2022
Curiosity is continuing to climb towards a Gediz Vallis ridge viewing spot, and we can already get a glimpse of it rising in the distance.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
November 11, 2022
Curiosity was parked amongst beautiful, rhythmically layered bedrock in our previous workspace.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
November 9, 2022
I was on shift today as Science Operations Coordinator (SOC) – an exciting role to have, especially on complicated days where communication between teams is key to a smooth operation.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
November 8, 2022
Today we are parked in front of an amazing workspace (seen in image) on the edge of the Marker Band.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
November 4, 2022
We are perched just below the “Marker Band,” a thin dark band whose origin is unclear.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
November 4, 2022
We arrived at the spectacular workspace pictured above, but what made it spectacular - rocks - is what also made it tricky.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
November 1, 2022
Today’s planning felt like we were trick or treating on Mars, just in time for Halloween!
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
October 31, 2022
Right navigation camera, showing the Marker Band as a continuous dark thin layer running from left to right (but thinning out on the left).
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
October 31, 2022
Using an onboard focusing process, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) aboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity created this product by merging two to eight images previously taken by the MAHLI, located on the turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
October 26, 2022
The long Sol 3631 drive went well, leaving the rover near exposures of nodule-rich bedrock.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
October 24, 2022
We continue our drive through "Marker Band valley", an area of high interest scientifically, due to strong evidence of sulfates from orbital mapping.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
October 21, 2022
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3626.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
October 19, 2022
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm on Sol 3624.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
October 17, 2022
We are nearing the end of our drill campaign activities at Canaima, and this weekend we are planning to analyze the drilled sample with the SAM instrument's gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer (GC-MS).
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
October 14, 2022
This morning’s planning kicked off with great news! Our Sol 3620 SAM data of the Canaima drill sample was interesting enough to proceed with planning a Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) experiment.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
October 12, 2022
Curiosity spent the weekend (sols 3616-3618) running a second night of CheMin analysis on the Canaima drilled sample and preparing SAM to accept a sample for analysis.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
October 10, 2022
The Curiosity team continues with our “Canaima” drill campaign.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
October 5, 2022
This week a lot of us have travelled to the team meeting to talk about the most recent science and the path ahead.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
October 5, 2022
Over the weekend, Curiosity took compositional measurements of the “Canaima” bedrock target in order to determine if the target merits collecting drilled sample.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
October 3, 2022
The science team has been carefully considering where it will collect its next drilled sample. Like taste-testing ice cream flavors before committing to just the right scoop, the science team first uses ChemCam and APXS to assess the composition of the bedrock.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
September 30, 2022
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3606.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
September 28, 2022
This image was taken by MAHLI onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3603.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
September 26, 2022
This morning, I was delighted to see that the complex drive we had planned on Wednesday through some very rocky terrain successfully completed!
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
September 23, 2022
This image was taken by Right Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3597.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
September 21, 2022
This image was taken by Front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Front Hazcam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3597.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
September 19, 2022
This image was taken by Front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Front Hazcam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3594.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
September 16, 2022
Curiosity is navigating through terrain that is difficult to traverse.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
September 14, 2022
Curiosity is back to planning after an issue with the rover’s arm in last weekend’s plan.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
September 9, 2022
It is tempting to list off the multitude of science observations the Curiosity team planned for the four sols that cover the Labor Day weekend in the US - an astonishing 15 targets, hundreds of Mastcam images, dozens of RMI images, and more than 2 Gb of science data collected.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
September 5, 2022
We kicked off Curiosity operations this morning with the news that our previous drive did not complete as planned.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 31, 2022
After a successful 13 meter weekend drive, Curiosity finds itself in the middle of “Marker Band” valley.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 29, 2022
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3574.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 26, 2022
It was a busy day for the Curiosity uplink team! After our arm activity and data volume restrictions described by Lucy Thompson from last plan, we came in today with ~120% downlinked data performance and full permission to use MAHLI and APXS for contact science.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 24, 2022
We are almost through Paraitepuy pass, an area between two large buttes that has made for tricky driving while dealing with communication challenges, sand and broken-up rocks.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 23, 2022
Today we planned a single sol plan cramming lots of science into a small plan, before driving in the afternoon.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 22, 2022
Coming in to work on the three-sol plan for the weekend, we were met with another set of stunning Images of the landscape around us.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 19, 2022
This image was taken by Front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Front Hazcam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3565.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 18, 2022
Image of obstacles, large ripples and several boulders, that guard the Paraitepuy Pass.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 16, 2022
Left navigation camera image, showing Orninoco and Kukenán buttes.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 15, 2022
Curiosity is continuing the journey through Paraitepuy Pass. The image above shows why it is going to take some time to traverse through this area. Here the navigation cameras snapped a photo of Curiosity’s tire tracks over a sand ripple.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 12, 2022
Curiosity is continuing to press on through Paraitepuy Pass with the successful completion of last plan’s drive and another coming up on the first sol of today’s two-sol plan.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 10, 2022
Curiosity continues to conquer obstacles as we enter our 11th year of operations on Mars.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 8, 2022
“We’ve got thumbnails!!” shouted, emotionally, over excited celebrations, is my most intense memory from 10 years ago.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 5, 2022
Tosol we uplinked a two-sol plan as Curiosity continues to navigate "Paraitepuy Pass."
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 4, 2022
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took 31 images in Gale Crater using its mast-mounted Right Navigation Camera (Navcam) to create this mosaic.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
August 1, 2022
This image was taken by Mast Camera (Mastcam) onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3545.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
July 29, 2022
This image was taken by Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3543.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
July 28, 2022
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3544.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
July 26, 2022
We have come to the end of our detour to image the "Bolivar" butte and are starting back to the MSAR (Mount Sharp Ascent Route).
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
July 25, 2022
Some planning days are more complicated than others, not because Mars throws us a curve ball, that happens, too, as regular readers of this blog will know. No, sometimes it’s just plain old computer issues here on Earth that make things complicated.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
July 22, 2022
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3536 (2022-07-18 09:16:22 UTC).
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
July 20, 2022
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3536.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
July 18, 2022
This Front Hazard Camera from Sol 3533 shows the boulder “Ilha Nova Destino.”
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
July 15, 2022
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3531.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
July 13, 2022
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3530.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
July 12, 2022
The MAHLI images acquired on Sol 3528 confirm that the APXS was well placed over the Avanavero drill tailings, and the APXS data look good so we are ready to drive away from this location.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
July 11, 2022
Both the CheMin and SAM instruments have dined on the Avanavero drill samples and have decided their appetites are sated.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
July 8, 2022
Tosol’s plan included a little bit of everything, with more than four hours of remote science spread over three sols.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
July 6, 2022
Curiosity is continuing to proceed through our pre-planned checklist of activities that we’ve made for drill campaigns.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
June 30, 2022
After a successful drilling of Avanavero, the team is ready to dig even deeper into our investigation of this new drill target.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
June 28, 2022
The MSL team is very happy today, because our first drill attempt since last November was successful!
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
June 24, 2022
Today was an exciting day of planning (and not just because of the thunderstorms here in southern California!). We planned a full drill of Avanavero, our first drill in over 6 months!
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
June 23, 2022
It has been almost 8 months to the day since Curiosity powered up its drill and extracted tailings from a Gale crater rock.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
June 21, 2022
This weekend plan is a four sol plan to allow a no planning day on Monday, for the commemoration of “Juneteenth,” and we crammed a lot in.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
June 17, 2022
The difficulty of driving on Martian terrain proves itself once again! Our Sol 3504 drive did not complete successfully, leaving us in a basically the same spot as our last plan.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
June 15, 2022
The Sol 3496 (last Monday) plan did not execute due to an issue onboard the rover that took a few days to investigate.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
June 13, 2022
Our drive was successful, and we ended with some lovely flat bedrock with some gorgeous veining running through it. As APXS payload uplink lead today, I saw several targets that the APXS team would have loved to analyze.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
June 6, 2022
We’re heading into a packed weekend, after a successful drive putting us in a great location with some really beautiful views.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
June 4, 2022
Today in tactical planning I was staffed as Surface Properties Scientist, which means I get to put my geology field experience hat on and work with the rover drivers to assess the terrain we’ll cross in our upcoming drive.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
May 31, 2022
Our intrepid rover engineers again successfully navigated Curiosity a little higher up Mount Sharp (~5 m) and ~40 m on the ground, away from our previous location.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
May 27, 2022
The Sol 3483 drive completed as planned, positioning the rover near several outcrops of knobby material and more "normal" looking bedrock.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
May 25, 2022
On this Monday 2-sol plan, I was one of three Rover Planners. I took the role of Arm Rover Planner, sequencing the contact science. I also helped to review the drive.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
May 24, 2022
Coming into planning on Friday, we were greeted with a beautiful vista, with well preserved layering and amazing outcrops, and a reminder of just how stunning the planet Mars is.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
May 23, 2022
Despite the incredibly rough terrain surrounding Mirador butte, our nearly 10-year-old rover successfully drove a net distance forward ~10 meters and ~2 meters in elevation!
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
May 18, 2022
Curiosity continues to navigate challenging terrain.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
May 16, 2022
We drove just over 30 metres in the last plan, reaching today’s location.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
May 13, 2022
After a successful 47m drive with ~5 m of elevation gain by Curiosity yestersol, we arrived at more new and interesting terrain to investigate!
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
May 12, 2022
Curiosity is getting a good start to the week! The weekend plan completed successfully, leaving some great rover tracks behind us as seen in the attached picture.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
May 9, 2022
It’s been a challenging week in Gale crater, but Curiosity and the rover team are ready to put those challenges behind us as we head into a busy weekend plan.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
May 6, 2022
We have cleared the “Greenheugh pediment” and the mix of sandy, steep, and rough terrain that challenged our drives up and down it.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
May 4, 2022
On sol 3415 we encountered what we unofficially dubbed ‘Gator Back’ terrain and decided to not fight the “creature” on the expense of our wheels but rather to turn around and go back.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
May 3, 2022
Our previous drive was successful, leaving us at our third and final imaging stop of the pediment.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
May 2, 2022
We have left the pediment behind and are making our way back to an alternate “MSAR” or “Mount Sharp Ascent Route.”
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
April 29, 2022
While angular, pointy rocks have damaged the rover's wheels since early in the MSL mission, sometimes the wheels damage rocks as the rover drives over them.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
April 27, 2022
Our weekend drive brought us successfully to our planned stop.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
April 25, 2022
Entering the weekend, we have a few more 'rad' rocks we'd like to get some science on before we drive farther away from the Greenheugh pediment and begin our journey again up Mt. Sharp.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
April 22, 2022
Not that it matters… but exactly 100 sols ago, on January 7th, we were planning sols 3351 and 3352... and it was this blogger’s turn to report on what was happening.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
April 20, 2022
After spending the last few weeks exploring the top of the nearby pediment surface, Curiosity is now making her way back down from the pediment and towards an alternate route to Gediz Vallis Ridge.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
April 18, 2022
Due to some complex terrain, the rover’s last drive came up about ten meters short of the target destination.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
April 15, 2022
Tosol's plan is focusing on examination of the linear ridges that cross-cut the local terrain.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
April 13, 2022
In Scots Gaelic, “deoch-an-doris” loosely means “one for the road.” Today we planned one more set of investigations on the fascinating Feorachas outcrop before we leave it behind forever.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
April 11, 2022
We are retracing our steps, picking our way slowly back down from the pediment and the dangerous gator rocks which would have eaten our wheels!
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
April 8, 2022
We successfully drove further down off of the “Greenheugh pediment” as we head toward smoother driving pathways downhill.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
April 7, 2022
There was good news when we came in for planning today – our remote mast recovery and all our other activities completed successfully, including the drive.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
April 6, 2022
It has been a frustrating week for the Curiosity science and engineering teams.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
April 4, 2022
Curiosity’s stationary week on Mars continued because we weren’t able to uplink Wednesday’s plan.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
April 1, 2022
The rover engineers better understand the minor issue that occurred after our weekend activities.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
March 30, 2022
Unfortunately, our weekend drive stalled, so this morning we found ourselves still at Friday’s workspace.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
March 28, 2022
I learned a new word today: vug. Vugs are small cavities or pits on a rock surface and the rock in our workspace today was noticeably “vuggy.”
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
March 25, 2022
No, Silly Place hasn’t become a new place name, but I totally agree with Ryan, who was yesterday’s blogger, that this is not our usual terrain.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
March 23, 2022
The original plan for today was to do a short drive to get within reach of some interesting new rocks.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
March 22, 2022
Curiosity is investigating the different surface expressions of the Greenheugh pediment, and the weekend drive put the rover right next to some “gator-back terrain.”
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
March 21, 2022
After a ~15 meter drive to the west along the top of the Greenheugh Pediment, Curiosity is now positioned at an interesting textural transition within the pediment’s surface units.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
March 18, 2022
Our Monday drive was successful, and we are now fully surrounded by the rocks that cap the Greenheugh pediment. From here we can see hundreds of ventifacts – a term that describes rocks which have been abraded by wind-blown sand into distinctive, flattened facets with crisp edges
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
March 16, 2022
Over the weekend, we completed the planned drive with a relatively easy (by “Greenheugh Pediment" standards) traverse in the pediment.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
March 14, 2022
Due to an issue with the Sol 3410 and 3411 plans, parts of the Sol 3410 plan didn’t execute and the planned drive did not occur. But the Sol 3409 contact science activities completed successfully, returning nice MAHLI images of bedrock.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
March 11, 2022
After significant churn in Monday’s planning, today turned out to be a single sol’s worth of untargeted science.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
March 9, 2022
We are continuing to slowly move through this very challenging terrain – over the weekend we made it about 4 meters before the drive stopped when the rover sensed more difficulty.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
March 8, 2022
Curiosity is currently attempting a climb onto the pediment, carefully navigating rocks and sand. Our drivers are doing a great job planning but the terrain sometimes has other ideas.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
March 4, 2022
The terrain continues to challenge us as we make our way up onto the Greenheugh pediment.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
March 2, 2022
Curiosity has been picking her way through sand, sharp boulders and ridges to find a way up onto the Greenheugh pediment.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
February 28, 2022
The drive on Sol 3397 went well and gave us some good perspective on the road ahead, as seen in the above Navcam image.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
February 26, 2022
If all goes according to plan, the rover’s drive on sol 3397 will position us at the edge of the rocks that cap Greenheugh Pediment.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
February 24, 2022
Today's plan involves getting one of the last looks at the rocks right below the Greenheugh Pediment, some observations at the contact between them, and some higher up on Gediz-Vallis Ridge.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
February 23, 2022
MSL planning was met with beautiful images of our path ahead, like this one.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
February 21, 2022
Curiosity is advancing westward through a largely boulder-strewn channel that is leading us toward the Greenheugh Pediment.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
February 15, 2022
Our Curious robotic explorer is spending another Valentine's Day in faraway Gale crater, Mars. For the first time since 2019, Curiosity has a NASA-built MRV (Martian Rover Valentine)!
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
February 14, 2022
In this weekend two-sol plan (Sunday is a soliday!), we continue making progress towards the “Greenheugh Pediment” and will hopefully be almost on top of the pediment after the weekend drive.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
February 11, 2022
We are continuing our traverse towards the "Greenheugh pediment."
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
February 9, 2022
After our adventures further uphill, Curiosity is backing down hill to get to the start of the path she will take up to the "Greenheugh Pediment."
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
February 7, 2022
We’ll be checking off the last item on our “Prow vicinity investigation” to-do list today with MAHLI and APXS observations on two bedrock targets named “Aji” and “Erico,” as well as ChemCam observations on a tilted block named “Cucurital” and bedrock target named “Rockstone.”
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
February 4, 2022
The above image is a MAHLI image of a small part of the Toron block in front of the rover. Take a moment to marvel at all the details.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
February 2, 2022
In our weekend drive we aimed to get up close to the “Toron” block, which is a “float rock” or out of place chunk of bedrock in the workspace.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
February 1, 2022
We continue to characterize “The Prow,” which stands proud above nearby flat lying dust coated bedrock.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
January 28, 2022
In the last blog my colleague Lucy expressed excited hope for today’s planning of close-up imagery of the rocks we tried to approach at ‘The Prow.’
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
January 26, 2022
The weekend plan included a short drive (or bump) to get us closer to one of the interesting, more resistant ledges that are exposed in this area (“The Prow”), as Curiosity continues her climb up Mount Sharp.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
January 24, 2022
On Wednesday we collected our first MAHLI images of the outcrops we’ve been studying the last few sols, and then drove back to the Prow to give us another chance to investigate the fascinating sedimentary structures we see preserved in this region.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
January 21, 2022
After a few sols of challenges that prevented us from getting close-up MAHLI imaging of this dark outcrop in front of us, today we were finally able to plan the contact science that we were hoping for.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
January 20, 2022
Our initial plan today was to conduct a MAHLI “dog’s eye” imaging sequence on the beautiful Panari outcrop that we are parked before.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
January 18, 2022
We continue to document rocks similar to what we saw at "The Prow," a dark appearing rock outcrop with amazing sedimentary structures and details.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
January 14, 2022
The "bump" planned on Sol 3354 to move the rover closer to "The Prow" outcrop was successful, placing the front wheels very close to the base of the outcrop.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
January 12, 2022
Today Curiosity is doing a little bit of everything: some contact science, some targeted science, and a little driving.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
January 11, 2022
On the second sol of the weekend plan, Curiosity took an unexpected break, stopping arm motion on the way to deploying MAHLI to image the wheels for their regular check up.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
January 10, 2022
We are back into our planning routine after the Christmas break. In fact, today was the third plan in the new year, and the third plan that Curiosity executes within the Roraima quadrant my colleague introduced a few days ago
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
January 7, 2022
Another successful drive on Mars resulted in a dusty bedrock workspace with nodules and small raised ridges in front of the rover. Curiosity also has a view towards larger scale, dark, resistant ridges that we have noticed within the more subdued and lighter coloured, more typical bedrock in this area.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
January 5, 2022
Tosol, Curiosity woke up in a new mapping quadrant, Roraima. The Roraima quadrant is named after the northern-most state of Brazil and Mount Roraima, which is the highest peak in the Pakaraima mountains which sits between Brazil, Venezuela, and Guyana.
JPL/NASA-Caltech |
January 3, 2022