We started planning today hoping to see some new bedrock in our workspace, but unfortunately the weekend plan didn’t work out exactly as we had hoped. As the previous blog explained, we’re in the process of recovering from a fault with the MAHLI cover. The good news is that the MAHLI cover was successfully closed over the weekend, but we encountered some unrelated hiccups with Curiosity’s remote sensing mast, so we have limited science activities today. I was on duty as Long Term Planner (LTP) today, and all of these changes to the plan kept me on my toes. I’m impressed by how the team was able to quickly adapt to changing circumstances and add some helpful observations into the plan. We’ll mostly focus on environmental monitoring activities in today’s two-sol plan, with DAN and REMS and some Hazcam dust devil surveys. SAM also planned an electrical baseline test, which we periodically do to monitor instrument health. Looking ahead, we hope to drive later this week and get back on the road to explore the basal sulfate unit. The view might be familiar, but it’s still pretty spectacular - I love the above Hazcam image with the shadow of the arm outstretched and some tantalizing stratigraphy ahead!
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
March 28, 2024
As someone who studies planetary atmospheres, the geology of Curiosity's mission often flies straight over my head.
March 26, 2024
Today, we planned two sols on Mars in a Touch and Go plan, where we do some early morning contact science and imaging followed by a drive to a new workspace on the first sol.
March 25, 2024
Sometimes it feels like we all make up the same brain and planning goes smooth as silk.
March 21, 2024
If the Curiosity rover had a song stuck in her head today, she might be humming “Back to the uGVR,” to the tune of The Beatles “Back in the U.S.S.R,” as she drives south along the eastern edge of the upper Gediz Vallis Ridge (uGVR).
March 18, 2024
It was a fairly calm planning day after a few weeks of activity at Mineral King, with a familiar touch-and-go plan.
March 18, 2024
Just prior to planning we found out the drilling attempt on Mineral King 3 unfortunately didn’t reach a depth suitable to collect samples for analysis.
March 14, 2024
The title of the blog gives away the big news of today - we are “go” to plan drilling at Mineral King 3. Yay!
March 12, 2024
Robotic arm downlink chair here! Rather than planning for the next day, I am on the team which assesses data that comes back from the rover and determines the health and safety of its hardware.
March 12, 2024
As we previously documented, the first “Mineral King” drill hole did not quite reach the target depth that we typically desire to ensure that we have enough sample in the drill stem to deliver to our internal CheMin and SAM instruments.
March 6, 2024
Curiosity is going to drill at the Mineral King site again, because the results we have so far indicate that we need to collect more sample for SAM analysis.
March 5, 2024
It has been a busy and exciting week for Curiosity and its science team. Our intrepid rover successfully drilled its 40th sample on Mars and today followed it up with an intensive campaign to characterize the tailings expelled while drilling “Mineral King.”
March 1, 2024
The "Mineral King" drill hole did not quite reach the target depth that we typically desire to ensure that we have enough sample in the drill stem to deliver to our internal CheMin and SAM instruments.
February 26, 2024
The planning team came in after the weekend to see another beautiful Martian drill hole on the target Mineral King!
February 26, 2024
The Curiosity rover remained parked on the Mt. Sharp bedrock with a beautiful view of the upper Gediz Vallis ridge as we embarked on a busy and exciting 3-sol planning day.
February 20, 2024
No time for Monday brain on a Tuesday! Following a four-day US holiday weekend, our Mars plans take place on Tuesday and Friday this week.
February 16, 2024
In this weekend's plan, Curiosity will continue to support two sets of long-term science campaigns.
February 14, 2024
Here on Earth, it’s Valentine’s Day, and I’ve been thinking about our new workspace a bit like a box of chocolates.
February 12, 2024
One side effect of enjoying a very long mission is reaching fun number milestones.
February 12, 2024
We are found Curiosity at full energy and ready to go this morning. And go we did! We are at a very interesting location with lots of textures in the rocks in front of us, and many features to spot in the walls around us. Geologists feasting time!
February 6, 2024
Curiosity had a successful imaging-based weekend and us geologists were excited to look at the new mosaics of Gediz Vallis Ridge and surrounding buttes when they downlinked to Earth.
February 5, 2024
Happy Groundhog Day, Earthlings! Punxsutawney Phil must’ve seen his shadow all the way to Mars, because right now it’s spring in Gale crater.
February 1, 2024
Curiosity continues her investigation of the light and dark banded sulfate terrain and started this two-sol planning day with several beautiful rocks within arm’s reach.
January 30, 2024
Curiosity is continuing to climb – our weekend drive delivered us to a new location with lots new to see for today’s two sol plan.
January 25, 2024
We arrived at a workspace with bedrock delightfully dotted with resistant features whose granular appearance and gray color were intriguing enough to warrant attention from APXS, ChemCam, and MAHLI.
January 23, 2024
Here in Toronto (along with much of Canada and the United States), we've spent the last few weeks bathed in an icy blast of arctic air, which has been quite a dramatic contrast with the very mild winter that we've had up until now.
January 19, 2024
This 3 sol weekend plan, like many of our recent plans (for example: here and here), focuses heavily on the fractures and cracks in this area.
January 17, 2024
After a long holiday weekend, Curiosity is back hard at work. The first sol of the plan begins with some spectroscopy and imaging.
January 16, 2024
Today the science team members were excited about having reached an area of polygonal fracturing in the workspace. Unfortunately, due to possible rover instability we were unable to unstow the arm safely and thus, no contact science today.
January 9, 2024
With a successful bump backwards over the weekend, Curiosity is now positioned to execute contact science on a flat block of dark-toned bedrock in its workspace and continue investigating the composition and texture of the dark bands we’ve been observing from orbit.
January 5, 2024
Coming back after the new year celebrations it was my first Curiosity planning as Geology Science Team Lead (GeoSTL) today.
January 3, 2024
Curiosity was busy over the holiday break, working independently through 11 pre-planned sols.