MISSION UPDATES | March 23, 2015

Sols 935-936 More Contact Science at Garden City

Written by Lauren Edgar, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center

Last Friday we planned some additional contact science at "Garden City." Unfortunately, an error resulted in the loss of contact science during Sols 931-933. A change needed in commanding is understood, and the rover is healthy and has not moved, so we'll be recovering that science this week.

Today's two-sol plan looks pretty similar to what we had planned for the weekend. Curiosity is still investigating the dark and
light portions of the veins at "Garden City." The plan includes MAHLI and APXS on the veins, and some ChemCam and Mastcam observations to look for variations in chemistry. Curiosity will also perform a number of environmental monitoring activities to measure atmospheric composition and opacity, and search for dust devils. Although we were disappointed that the weekend plan didn't execute as we had hoped, the images that we've received so far show that this is a complicated outcrop and very deserving of additional investigations!

By Lauren Edgar

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.