Sol 2688-2689: Into the Unknown

Over the last couple of weeks, the Curiosity science team engaged in a series of long debates about where we should go after we completed our analyses of the Hutton sample. Our first option was to drive downhill and rejoin the strategically planned route that skirts the base of the Greenheugh pediment. The second option was to head the other way and drive uphill onto the top of pediment capping unit.

I love discussions like these. We’d always planned to drive on top of the Greenheugh pediment at some point, but the rover wouldn’t reach the access points identified from orbit for months, or possibly even years. However, while Curiosity was completing the drill campaign at Hutton, rover drivers working with surface properties scientists discovered a potentially passible route onto the top of the Greenheugh pediment that was accessible from our current location. So as a team we had to consider, were the science benefits worth trying to drive onto the pediment now, or we should wait until later as originally planned? In the end, we decided the science rationale to ascend now were so compelling, it was worth going for it.

The focus of today’s plan will be to execute the first of several drives that will take us to the top. We don’t expect to encounter slopes much greater than 25˚ in today’s planned drive, but subsequent drives will require the rover to ascend slopes of 30˚ or more. We’ve never driven up slopes this steep with Curiosity before, and we don’t actually know if the rover will be able to make it all the way up and over. However, all of our analysis shows this attempt won’t put any unusual risk on the vehicle hardware, so there’s no reason we can’t try!

Exploring Mars is always exciting, but for me, this has been a particularly fun and exciting time to be a part of the Curiosity science team. I love the feeling of exploring and venturing into the unknown. We don’t know if we’ll be able to make it onto the pediment capping unit here, but we know we’ll discover something completely new if we do reach the top.