March 5, 2024

Sols 4116-4117: Rover Kinesthetics

Written by Scott VanBommel, Planetary Scientist at Washington University
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4113.

This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4113. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech Download image ›

Earth planning date: Monday, March 4, 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.” When APXS analyzes a target, it receives signals from the top millimeter or less of the sample (similar to ChemCam, depending on the number of laser pulses conducted). Drilled material extracted by Curiosity and fed to SAM and/or CheMin, however, is typically extracted from 2+ cm below the surface. Drill tailings therefore provide APXS (and ChemCam) a more representative sample of the material analyzed by CheMin and/or SAM than pre-drill analyses of the target surface. Given images acquired previously showed a visually heterogeneous tailings pile, the 4116-4117 plan focused in part on acquiring MAHLI images and APXS analyses of not one but two spots on Mineral King's tailings.

Other activities in the plan included ChemCam analyses and Mastcam imaging of the targets “Roaring River” and “Big Meadows” as well as further photometry experiments. Images were also acquired post-APXS of the tailings pile as well as of various rover components such as the drill bit and the CheMin inlet cover. Environmental monitoring activities rounded out the plan.

This summary of today's plan certainly does not do the rover nor science and engineering team any justice given the complexity of its execution. In order to acquire all the MAHLI images and APXS data in the plan, there were six distinct arm segments, referred to as “arm backbones.” All told, a pretty impressive display of kinesthetics by Mars’ eldest rover.

March 1, 2024

Sols 4114-4115: Bingo! It's Official – Curiosity's 40th Successful Drill Hole on Mars!

Written by Lucy Thompson, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick
ChemCam RMI of the Mineral King drill hole

This image of the "Mineral King" drill hole was taken by Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4108. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL. Download image ›

Earth planning date: Friday, 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. However, based on the information we did have (see details in the Sol 4110 blog), we proceeded with delivery to CheMin, and got the good news yesterday that CheMin received enough sample to complete an X-ray diffraction analysis. We officially have our 40th successful drill hole! Based on the preliminary CheMin results, the SAM team are planning a power-hungry, Evolveded Gas Analysis (EGA) of the "Mineral King" sample. This will provide further information on the composition.

Despite the power restrictions, the geology and atmospheric science teams made good use of the remaining time and power available to plan a slew of observations in this 2-sol weekend plan. To complement the previous APXS and ChemCam analyses of the "Mineral King" target prior to drilling, and the CheMin and SAM analyses, ChemCam will fire its laser at the wall of the drill hole to look for chemical variations with depth. The resulting laser pits will be captured with a Mastcam image, which will also help us plan MAHLI and APXS deployments on the powdered sample surrounding the drill hole next week. ChemCam will also analyze the "Nameless Pyramid" target on the same block, another example of the dark rock that we drilled into. We are also acquiring additional Mastcam imaging to extend coverage around the "Mineral King" drill block.

We are not focusing all our activities in the vicinity of our drill hole though. ChemCam will also utilize its remote imaging capabilities to look at the layering in the "Texoli" butte and the chaotic structure within the nearby Gediz Vallis deposit. We have been imaging the Texoli butte from different vantage points along our traverse to better understand the nature of the layering and sedimentary structures that can help us interpret the geological history of this section of Mount Sharp. The Gediz Vallis deposit has also been of interest for some time now, and our current position, very close to a section of the ridge material, provides the perfect opportunity to try and understand the processes that formed this late-stage deposit.

A photometry experiment on the second sol will use Mastcam and Navcam images to view areas near the workspace. This is one of a number of such observations that are repeated at different times of day, with variable lighting conditions, while the rover is stationary here at the "Mineral King" drill site. The experiment helps us to gain a better understanding of the surface textures at small scales and their influence on the reflected sunlight.

Observations to monitor changes in atmospheric opacity and dust are also included. We are acquiring several Navcam observations (sky flats and line of sight observations, as well as dust devil, suprahorizon and zenith movies) and a Mastcam tau. The plan is not complete without the standard REMS, DAN and RAD activities.

We are looking forward to coming back next week, hopefully with the news that we had a successful SAM EGA analysis. Assuming success, we will empty the drill stem of any remaining sample, which then allows us to use the arm for contact science (MAHLI and APXS). I will be the APXS strategic planner next week, and I am eager to help plan the APXS observations of the powdered sample around the drill hole. These results will be used to further refine the CheMin and SAM determined mineralogy of "Mineral King."

February 29, 2024

Sols 4112-4113: In The Presence Of Royalty

Written by Emma Harris, Graduate Student at Natural History Museum
This image was taken by Mast Camera (Mastcam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4107.

This image was taken by Mast Camera (Mastcam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4107. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Download image ›

Earth planning date: Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Over the weekend Curiosity successfully drilled into ‘Mineral King!’ The drilling stopped a little short of the target depth, however we think there was enough sample to be sent for analysis. ‘Mineral King’ has now been analyzed within the CheMin instrument, and we are awaiting the results. After we see those results tomorrow morning, we will make the decision if we also want to analyze the sample with the Sample Analysis at Mars – SAM – instrument. The first sol of this two sol plan contains the preconditioning of SAM to optimistically get us ready to deliver the sample to SAM on Friday and, during this time, Curiosity stays put next to the drill hole, awaiting the results of analysis. This leaves plenty of time to take in the beautiful views of our kingdom.

Today the science team planned a whole host of observations. Mastcam will continue to admire our noble drill hole by taking a single frame of ‘Mineral King’ for a MAHLI wind assessment, as well a single frame of some sandy ripples in the workspace called ‘Florence Peak’ as part of a change detection campaign. Mastcam will also look further afield taking a 9x2 mosaic of ‘Wilkerson butte’ to identify the sedimentary structures here and will then look back and take a 13x2 mosaic of an area we’ve previously driven by named ‘Consultation Lake’ to search for a particular fracture pattern that’s of interest to the science team. On the second sol, Mastcam and Navcam are kept busy with photometry observations.

ChemCam has 2 LIBS targets in the plan. The target ‘Woods Lake’ is on the surface of a rock that looks similar to the drill hole Mineral King rock, with a second LIBS target ‘Lake Basin’ on an exposed layered surface of a nearby rock. The great thing about a drill campaign is we get the time to explore lots of rocks in Curiosity’s workspace! ChemCam is also targeting ‘Fascination Turret,’ part of the Gediz Vallis Ridge, with two long distance RMIs. Curiosity will spend more sols in the presence of royalty here at the ‘Mineral King’ drill hole as we continue with sample analysis and remote science observations throughout the week.

February 26, 2024

Sols 4110-4111: Mining Into Mineral King

Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4107.

This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4107. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image ›

Earth planning date: Monday, February 26, 2024

The planning team came in after the weekend to see another beautiful Martian drill hole on the target Mineral King! Mineral King is named after a silver mining district in Sequoia National Park, California. This was a pretty odd-looking rock, with the big overhanging ledges and several different colors, so we were all pretty anxious to see the drilling results. Fortunately, the rock was strong enough to drill without the rock layers breaking apart. However, it was also hard enough to slow down our drill progress and require percussion near the end. As a result, this hole is on the shallow side, meaning we may not have collected as much sample to analyze. However, we have had successful sample analyses after similarly shallow drill holes (like Edinburgh back on sol 2710) and our portion characterization does show we have sample, so the team is optimistic and going forward with dropping off sample to CheMin today. We prefer to do the sample drop-off as close as possible to when we’ll be doing the CheMin analysis, which is at night during cooler temperatures. While we are waiting for the sun to go down we are doing some targeted science and imaging.

This image was taken by Front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Front Hazcam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4107.
This image was taken by Front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Front Hazcam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4107. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image ›

First thing, ChemCam is taking a LIBS observation of the “Mount Sill” target, which is a dark-toned platy layer on the same rock as Mineral King. ChemCam is also taking both LIBS and passive observations on the Mineral King drill tailings and drill hole wall. Curiosity will then turn attention to the atmosphere, taking a Navcam line-of-site image of the atmospheric dust within the crater and a large dust devil survey. Before taking a nap, there is a Navcam image of the CheMin inlet prior to dropping off sample. After the nap, we wake up to do a high-temperature diagnostic with the M100 filter wheel, followed by a Mastcam solar tau and another Navcam line-of-sight image to look at dust in the atmosphere. After another nap, Curiosity wakes up in the evening to drop off some drill sample to CheMin. We are dropping off two sample “portions” to CheMin, which involves rotating the drill bit backwards for less than a second. Overnight, CheMin will analyze the sample and then dump it out. We should have results of the analysis by planning on Friday, when we will find out if Mineral King will live up to its name (though we probably won’t find any actual silver) and we’ll decide if we want to proceed to drop sample to SAM.

On the second sol of the plan, we read out the data from CheMin and do some more imaging and remote science. ChemCam takes a LIBS observation of the “South Guard” target, which is a gray-toned platy target also on the Mineral King rock, giving us the ability to compare the different colored areas. ChemCam also is taking a 40-frame RMI extension of the mosaic of Fascination Turret on the upper Gediz Vallis ridge. Mastcam then takes ChemCam follow-up images, one of South Guard and Mount Sill and an 18-frame mosaic of the upper Gediz Vallis ridge RMI target. Mastcam also takes a 48-frame extension of the mosaic on Texoli, which is a butte that shows eroded sedimentary structures, and an observation on the Marker Band following up on a ChemCam observation from the weekend. Finally, we take the post-drop-off Navcam image of the CheMin inlet and a dust devil movie. For the rest of the sol, Curiosity gets to rest and recharge in preparation for hopefully doing SAM activities in the rest of the week.

February 26, 2024

Sols 4107-4109: Drilling Mineral King

Written by Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
This image was taken by Front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Front Hazcam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4105. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image ›

This image was taken by Front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Front Hazcam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4105. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image ›

Earth planning date: Friday, February 23, 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. With preliminary data in hand used to understand the composition and texture of the gray "Mineral King" rock in front of us, we decided to proceed with drilling at this location!

ChemCam and Mastcam teamed up to document the composition and texture of several rocks in the workspace starting with the "Mineral King" target before the start of the drilling activity. ChemCam also scheduled a Z-stack observation (i.e., multiple images over a range of focus settings) to further characterize the pre-drill surface. The team also selected the "Lilley Pass" target to investigate the knobby bedrock beneath "Mineral King," and the nearby "Mather Pass" target to investigate a rock that appears similar in appearance and color to our selected drill target. Mastcam built two stereo mosaics for the weekend plan; one mosaic will document ground disturbances nearby, and the other will extend previous coverage of the "Mount Carillon" region to image the different types of cracks and breaks within the rocks.

Looking up and off into the distance, we have two ChemCam long distance RMI images in the weekend plan. One image will provide insight into the tantalizing rocks at the base of "Fascination Turret" in the upper Gediz Vallis ridge, and the other will get a glimpse behind us at landforms in the Marker Band Valley region. Rounding out these targeted activities is a ChemCam passive sky observation to survey the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere.

Good luck with the plan, Curiosity. Rest assured that you have lots of Earthlings who will be thinking of you over the weekend!

February 20, 2024

Sols 4104-4106: Dark Band Drill Surprise

Written by Natalie Moore, Mission Operations Specialist at Malin Space Science Systems
Navcam Left image of the road behind us from Sol 4096, depicting the light and dark rock layers we’ve been driving through.

Navcam Left image of the road behind us from Sol 4096, depicting the light and dark rock layers we’ve been driving through. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image ›

Earth planning date: Tuesday, 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. Since I am scheduled for Mastcam operations all week, this morning I ran my trusty script telling me how much Mastcam data were downlinked from the weekend. Immediately there was a mystery: Saturday’s data downlinked just fine but Sunday’s data wasn’t showing up. Missing data could have many causes, but the two most likely are: something happened with the rover, or something happened with the data transmission between Mars and Earth. Luckily it was quickly discovered to be the latter; our Payload Downlink Coordinator for today let us know that our morning downlink was halted because of Earth-weather conditions at the Deep Space Network station we tried to use. Despite not having the data right away, this is always good news because it means our commands all worked and the data is on its way to Earth. We were told the missing data would be available this afternoon at the earliest, so for planning we made do with the data we had.

We did get our Mastcam arm workspace images down from Sunday, though, and it showed a new location at a highly desired dark-toned rock layer. The weekend drive was successful! It was quickly determined our wheels were stable enough to unstow the arm and put weight on it (like for drilling), and since this is the nicest Gale crater terrain has been in a while the team quickly pivoted from driving away to staying here and trying to drill. This plan became our first of the “Mineral King” drill campaign.

We saved all the arm activities for the second sol, so we start sol 4104 with a remote science block including: ChemCam LIBS on “Mount Mallory,” Mastcam image of the LIBS attempt, and 20 Mastcam stereo frames of the terrain surrounding us. Navcam finishes off the block with some long dust devil and cloud movies, not only for science but also to make use of the battery charge while we can. The second sol is run by the arm activities: a 7-image MAHLI mosaic of the Mineral King block from an angle to show the thickness of the dark layers, DRT on Mineral King with a full-MAHLI-suite of images on the dust-free area, a pre-load test of the drill bit on Mineral King to test the strength of the rock (the stronger the rock, the less likely it’ll fracture or shift), and finally APXS integrations in the evening over the dust-free Mineral King to gather mineral composition pre-drilling. The third sol is mainly a battery recharge sol, but we’re still planning a ChemCam LIBS on “Mount Carillon,” a Mastcam mono mosaic of the LIBS attempt and surrounding context, and many Navcam dust devil movies. If the pre-load test on Mineral King goes well, we might be drilling this weekend!

February 16, 2024

Sols 4100-4103: Moving "Inland" From Gediz Vallis Channel

Written by Abigail Fraeman, Planetary Geologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4098.

This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4098. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image ›

Earth planning date: Friday, February 16, 2024

In this weekend's plan, Curiosity will continue to support two sets of long-term science campaigns. First, we want to understand the processes that built Mt. Sharp's sulfate-bearing (salty) unit, and what that can tell us about Mars' past changing climate and habitability. Second, we also are trying to understand how Gediz Vallis channel formed, and by extension, what the "last gasps" of surface water in Gale crater might have been like. We've been hugging the edge of Gediz Vallis channel for the past few drives - getting as close as we can in order to image the rocks within the channel - but we had to turn ever so slightly east today, away from the channel, where the terrain is a little easier for Curiosity to navigate. Wednesday's southeastern drive placed us right at the edge of a "dark band" (as characterized in orbital data) of the sulfate-bearing unit. In addition to still collecting lots of images of Gediz Vallis channel, we're also now on the hunt for another possible drill target that will help us continue to characterize the rocks in the sulfate-bearing unit. We'll assess the textures and compositions of rocks in this and an upcoming dark band to help us determine whether there's anything we'd like to sample.

We planned four sols today to cover the US holiday next Monday. The first sol of the plan is mainly devoted to getting ready for a SAM atmospheric observation that will take place just after midnight on the first sol and will measure methane in the Martian atmosphere. We'll also have some remote sensing observations on the first sol, with ChemCam LIBS observations of dark bedrock in front of us ("Red Kaweah") and Mastcam images of Gediz Vallis channel. Remote sensing will continue on the second sol of the plan, with more Mastcam observations and a ChemCam LIBS observation of "Muro Blanco," a light-colored piece of bedrock. MAHLI and APXS will get in on the science action on the sol as well, with observations of two targets on dark toned rocks in front of us named "Thunderbolt Peak" and "Tenderfoot Peak." We'll snag one more LIBS observation on the third sol of the plan on Tenderfoot Peak, then we'll drive ~25 m to the south, towards a rock we are interested in assessing as a possible drill target. The fourth sol of the plan will be relatively quiet, with REMS observations to characterize the weather only. Mastcam, Navcam, RAD, and DAN observations will also occur throughout the plan to characterize the Martian environment.

February 14, 2024

Sols 4098-4099: With Love From Mars

Written by Alex Innanen, Atmospheric Scientist at York University
This image of Curiosity's nameplate above the Mars surface was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4096.

This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4096. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image ›

Earth planning date: Wednesday, 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. When we come to a new workspace, much like opening up a box of chocolates, there’s a lot to look at — different textures, different colours, different shapes — and you have to decide what you’re going to start with, what might be the tastiest, and what you may want to leave in the box. Sometimes, there’s things you know you like (I can never go wrong with a salted caramel), and sometimes there are new flavours to be discovered. Mars certainly gifted us with a great box of treats today, and the plan brings us familiar sights from sols past and new targets to sink our (metaphorical) teeth into.

One of these is our contact science target, "Horseshoe Meadows," a section of bedrock (which you can see in the image, right above where "Curiosity" is written) that is redder than what we’ve been seeing recently. After APXS takes a look, we move into our main science block which starts with ChemCam LIBs on a different bedrock target, "Post Corral Creek." ChemCam will then set its sights further afield to a familiar target, Fascination Turret, which Mastcam examined on Monday. Mastcam gets its own treats today, starting with two mosaics of the upper Gediz Vallis Ridge and an old friend, the Orinoco Butte, which has been a regular companion of Curiosity for many, many sols. Mastcam will also join ChemCam in imaging "Post Corral Creek." The science block finishes up with a deck monitoring image. We’ve been taking these recently before and after every drive to see how the dust that collects on the rover deck changes because of things like driving or wind. After the science block, we return to Horseshoe Meadows with the DRT and MAHLI, and then it’s time to bid farewell to this workspace and drive away.

The sol doesn’t end there, though. After the drive we have another science block to sneak in some later afternoon environmental activities. These include a Mastcam observation and Navcam line of sight to look at dust in the atmosphere and a dust devil survey to look for dust being lifted from the ground as well as a cloud movie.

Our second sol only has one science block a little before noon which includes a ChemCam AEGIS activity, our post-drive deck monitoring, another cloud movie and a long dust devil movie. Once that’s wrapped up Curiosity will nap for the rest of the sol in preparation for a weekend plan, hopefully full of more treats from Mars.

February 12, 2024

Sols 4093-4094: A Feast of Images!

Written by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University
Black and white image of a hillside terrain on Mars.

A taster of the beauty of the scene around us. This image was taken by Right Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4090 (2024-02-07 11:34:18 UTC). Download image ›

Earth planning date: Friday, February 9, 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!

And feast we did! I counted - between Mastcam, ChemCam, the Navcams, and MARDI almost 450 individual image frames! That's due to the super-interesting scenery we are currently in, with so many things to spot, blocks and textures, layers and nodules, we've got it all here. Mastcam's starter includes two doc images for LIBS on the targets "Contact Pass" and "Michael's Pinnacle," and a small documentation mosaic for earlier RMI imaging. The main menu for Mastcam consists of a range of individual targets which include the target "Elionore Lake" to look ahead into our drive direction, spotting potentially interesting structures and looking at them in higher resolution. Mastcam then images an area Trough Channel West with a mosaic and after that turns north again on the Trough Channel with another mosaic, and finally images a target called "Volcanic Lakes." That sounds like a Martian version of Spanish Tapas to me! But the heaviest course is the desert... it's a 360 mosaic of the scene that surrounds us to document many structures around the rover currently, and that accounts for 342 individual frames! If that isn't a heavy desert...!

ChemCam has three LIBS target on its menu, one on the target "Contact Pass" and the other one on "Michael's Pinnacle," and finally will decide for itself where to target with the AEGIS LIBS measurement in the final sol. But that's not all, as there are three long distance RMI images to get even more detail from the scene around us, targeting areas on the upper Gediz Vallis Ridge and the channel.

APXS has two targets, "Iridescent Lake" and "The Miller", both of which will also be imaged by MAHLI. If you are out of breath and close to food coma here, then you should know that ENV also brings environmental observations, including sky observations, and of course DAN is busy looking at the surface, and there is a MARDI image on the menu, too. After all that feasting, Curiosity will get some steps - ehm, wheel turns - in and drive off to the next stop.

That should give us a lot to look at… data and especially sunny images. And those are well needed here! While I write this, I am looking out of the window into heavy, heavy rain here in England, thinking of my Californian colleagues, who are experiencing the ‘atmospheric river' event called ‘Pineapple Express' bringing rainfall amounting to double digit inches in many regions in California. They for once get more rain that we here in England, making us all to be looking forward to the new scenery on Mars, sun guaranteed!

February 12, 2024

Sols 4096-4097: Fun Math and a New Butte

Written by Kristen Bennett, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4094.

This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4094. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image ›

Earth planning date: Monday, February 12, 2024

One side effect of enjoying a very long mission is reaching fun number milestones. Usually that is "Sol 3000" or some other nice round number, but today we are planning the mathematically fun sol 2^12, also known as sol 4096.

Today I was on shift as a MAHLI uplink lead, so I was excited to think about contact science targets. Unfortunately, the team determined that Curiosity’s wheels are perched on some small rocks. When this happens, we worry about the rover shifting around if the weight of the rover causes the rocks to move a little. Even though the rover would likely only shift a tiny amount, when we have the arm ~2 cm away from the surface to take close approach MAHLI images, a tiny amount could have major consequences. Safety is always first on Mars, so we decided to focus on remote science today.

Fortunately, there are quite a few interesting targets in the area. The team identified a possible small, eroded crater not too far from Curiosity. Mastcam will target one side of the crater rim in the "Fischer Pass" mosaic, and ChemCam will perform a LIBS observation on a block (also called Fischer Pass) within the potential crater rim that has alternating dark toned rough layers and light toned smooth layers. Mastcam will target the other side of the potential crater rim in the "Hitchcock Lake" mosaic to document apparent distortions in the bedrock.

Mastcam will also take a mosaic of the base of Fascination Turret, which is a part of the Gediz Valley Ridge that we have a spectacular view of right now. ChemCam will take a Long Distance RMI mosaic of the Texoli butte.

Curiosity has been driving through an area surrounded by many buttes (for example, the Texoli butte). In today’s location a new butte came into view (see the image at the top of this blog post)! This butte, called "Wilkerson," is located across the Gediz Valley Ridge, so it has been obscured until now. We finally drove to a high enough location to see over the ridge, so Mastcam will capture the butte in a mosaic. Orbital images show that Wilkerson butte may have a mantling layer of unique rocks on top, so it will be interesting to see what it looks like from the ground.

Finally, Curiosity will continue to drive along Gediz Valley Ridge, and I’m sure we will have a great view at our next stop as well.