Sols 3912-3913: Eleven Candles

Earth planning date: Monday, August 7th, 2023

I certainly do not remember a birthday cake with eleven candles in front of me. I'm sure it existed, and there's probably even a (physical) photo of it somewhere at my childhood home, but there have been many laps around the sun since then to erode my memories from that time (and, naturally, a significant change in hair albedo if I am completely honest). This past weekend, Curiosity officially completed its 11^th (Earth) year on Mars. As Alex captured in the blog from the weekend plan, our rover was busy conducting exciting science activities as the milestone came and went. Just another hard day at work for the veteran rover. It seems like only yesterday we celebrated 10 (Earth) years on the surface, and not long before that when intense nervousness was fractured by words from engineer Allen Chen I'll never forget: "Touchdown confirmed. We're safe on Mars." I had the privilege of being in the Flight Projects Center at JPL as a wide-eyed graduate student with the rest of the 2012 science team on landing night. I could not imagine the journey we would venture on together over these 11 years that have followed.

Our rover is a little more tired than 11 years ago. That's to be expected though, 3911 diurnal cycles on Mars is grueling. That's 3911 frigid Mars nights, 3911 cool (at best) Mars days, and nearly 100,000 hours of being bombarded by radiation from space after landing on Mars. Add as well some 30+ hard-earned km driven over often-grueling terrain. There have been analyses of samples from 38 drill holes and 6 scoops. Nearly 3,000 commanded APXS analyses on solid samples. Roughly 64,000 MAHLI and nearly 220,000 commanded Mastcam images. In the neighbourhood of 1 million ChemCam LIBS shots and roughly 6,000 ChemCam RMIs as well as countless REMS activities and DAN pulses. CheMin XRD analyses of 43 samples totaling around 1,500 hours of measurement time and a similar workload for SAM. More images from the Hazard and Navigation cameras than I can even imagine counting and a full 11-year solar cycle monitored by RAD. All of these data, and more to come, relayed through Curiosity's friends overhead back to Earth for analysis and interpretation by the science team and community.

Curiosity was gifted a stunning workspace to kick off its 12th (Earth) year on Mars after a successful drive in the previous plan. Our rover took advantage of this workspace with an action-packed two-sol plan, especially so given the various tactical constraints. To start the first plan of its 12th year on Mars, Curiosity brushed the rock target "Ouranoupoli" and acquired an APXS analysis as well as MAHLI and Mastcam images. Mastcam also acquired images of nearby ripples as well as of the targets "Sicyon," "Orinoco," and "Arachova," the latter of which was also investigated by ChemCam. Curiosity also executed a one-hour drive, providing a new workspace for Wednesday's planning day

Every day on Mars is a good day. Some may be more challenging than others, but that's life on Mars. One constant, through everything, is the soul and determination of this rover and its supporting cast, to soldier on, up the flanks of a mountain, inside a 3-4 billion year old crater, on a sparkling red dot low near the western horizon in this late summer's evening sky. Happy birthday Curiosity, you are never truly alone.

Written by Scott VanBommel, Planetary Scientist at Washington University