NASA Mars Rover Curiosity: Mission Updates Copyright (c) 2024 NASA / JPL All rights reserved. https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission-updates/ News, Mars, NASA, Science, and Technology Get the latest Mars blog updates. en-us Tue, 19 Mar 2024 06:56:49 GMT 5 NASA Mars Rover Curiosity: Mission Updates https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission-updates/ https://mars.nasa.gov/rss/mars-300.jpg Sols 4130-4131: A Return to Your Regularly Scheduled Touch-And-Go Read article: Sols 4130-4131: A Return to Your Regularly Scheduled Touch-And-Go

Earth planning date: Monday, 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. That's not the only thing that's back to normal – ENV has ended our dust storm watch as dust activity has calmed down to seasonal levels. We even have a (slightly hazy) view of the crater rim again (see above)!



After leaving Mineral King behind we were greeted by a new workspace for the first time in almost 30 sols. For the 'touch' part of the touch-and-go, APXS and MAHLI will be getting up close with bedrock target 'Tunnel View.' MAHLI will also be examining 'Cardinal Mountain,' a set of dark veins in another block.



While not getting quite as close as MAHLI and APXS, Mastcam and ChemCam are also taking advantage of the workspace with LIBS on 'Ireland Lake' (appropriately named for the day after St Patrick's Day!), a ChemCam mosaic of 'Fascination Turret,' and Mastcam mosaics of the upper Gediz Vallis Ridge and 'Koontz Pinnacle.' On the ENV side, we're rounding out the sol with an image of the rover deck to track any potential movement from wind, and a couple of observations to monitor the decreasing dust. Then it's time to go – off towards Fascination Turret.



On our second sol, after the drive, we have our regular untargeted science block that will be given over to a ChemCam AEGIS activity, another deck monitoring observation, a line of sight to the crater rim, and a dust devil movie. After that Curiosity gets to take a well deserved nap for the rest of the plan.




Written by Alex Innanen


]]>
Sols 4130-4131: A Return to Your Regularly Scheduled Touch-And-Go It was a fairly calm planning day after a few weeks of activity at Mineral King, with a familiar touch-and-go plan.
Sols 4127-4130: Backstage: Quick Change! Read article: Sols 4127-4130: Backstage: Quick Change!

Earth planning date: Friday, March 15, 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. So, in a manner very similar to a quick-change backstage at the theatre, we altered our plan of action just minutes prior to planning. Instead of sending the drilled sample for analysis like we were able to do for Mineral King, Curiosity is driving away. Our incredible rover planners had already figured out where the rover was going to drive next, so it was down to the science team to figure out how to merge the science observations into the new plan.



On the first 2 sols of this plan, prior to driving away, APXS will take measurements on the shallow drill attempt at ‘Mineral King 3,' as there are some drill tailings present. ChemCam has packed the plan with activities including the final LIBS observations in this workspace on some nodular rocks of interest ‘Wishorn Reservoir' and ‘Diamond Mesa.' ChemCam will then take an RMI mosaic of a sand trough named ‘Centre Basin' near the rover, as well as two long distance RMI mosaics of ‘Texoli,' and ‘Dragtooth' buttes. Mastcam will take the standard documentation images on the ChemCam LIBS observations, as well as a final change detection image of ‘Florence Peak,' a sand ripple in the workspace we have been monitoring for a few weeks to see how much it moves over time. Mastcam also have some larger mosaics planned including extensions of previously imaged areas including the drilling location ‘Mineral King,' as well as targets ‘Consultation Lake' and ‘Cottonwood Pass.' During this plan we also have a range of environmental monitoring activities: Mastcam will be used for a sky survey, and Navcam will be searching for dust devils and will be used to take a suprahorizon movie.



Curiosity will then drive closer to ‘Fascination Turret,' part of the Gediz Vallis Ridge to inspect an area of geologic interest to the team. When the rover arrives at our new workspace, it will take a Navcam mosaic, and a MAHLI image of the wheels. We then instruct the rover to automatically pick a ChemCam LIBS target to make the most of the science time and give us some preliminary data to analyse when we come into planning on Monday. These types of planning days, although often hectic, show the power of pre-planning and highlight all the work that happens backstage on this efficient rover team.




Written by Emma Harris


]]>
Sols 4127-4130: Backstage: Quick Change! 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.
Sols 4125-4126: Woohoo! We're 'Go' for Drilling At 'Mineral King 3!' Read article: Sols 4125-4126: Woohoo! We're 'Go' for Drilling At  'Mineral King 3!'

Earth planning date: Wednesday, March 13, 2024



The title of the blog gives away the big news of today - we are "go" to plan drilling at Mineral King 3. Yay!



For those not following along every day, here's a quick recap of how we got to drill target #3 on this block: We drilled the original "Mineral King" target on sol 4107, but the drill did not reach as deep into the rock as it usually does, so we didn't know how much powdered sample we'd collected for analysis. We learned the answer was we had enough sample for CheMin analysis, but not for SAM. We decided to try to drill again to collect more sample, so we picked a spot named "Mineral King 2" on the same block. Alas! After we attempted to preload the drill, we found out that the Mineral King 2 spot would not be a good location to try to drill. So, on Monday, we picked another location, now up to Mineral King 3, and tried the drill preload again. We found out this morning that our preload data are looking good, so we are "go" to plan for a full drill of Mineral King 3 in today's plan!



The drilling and subsequent characterization of the drilled material are the stars of the first and second sols of today's plan, respectively. We do have a little bit of time for remote sensing around these activities, so we'll collect a ChemCam LIBS observation of a target named "Long Lake," a ChemCam RMI observation, and several Mastcam mosaics to complement the Mastcam coverage we already have in the area. We'll also be monitoring the environment with observations to look at the dust in the atmosphere, measure radiation at the surface, and look for changes in the sand on the ground below us. Finally, we will also image the workspace to look for one big, rover-made change. I really hope we'll be greeted with the image of a fresh drill hole on Friday morning (which would come with fresh donut holes delivered to the tactical team).




Written by Abigail Fraeman, Planetary Geologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory


]]>
Sols 4125-4126: Woohoo! We're 'Go' for Drilling At 'Mineral King 3!' The title of the blog gives away the big news of today - we are “go” to plan drilling at Mineral King 3. Yay!
Sols 4123-4124: Third Time's the Charm! Read article: Sols 4123-4124: Third Time's the Charm!

Earth planning date: Monday, March 11, 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. I was responsible for assessing our last preload checkout on our second "Mineral King" target last Friday. Unfortunately, we were not confident enough in the initial data we were reading in the target to feel comfortable moving towards a full drill. In our feed extended configuration without utilizing stabilizers, we have to be pickier about the drilling attempts we make to protect our hardware. We wouldn't want to get our drill stuck in a rock!



Today, we are planning for another checkout on our third "Mineral King" target on Sol 4123. We're really excited about the potential science value from this area, so we are willing to try again to get more sample. Recall that for our first "Mineral King" target, while we were able to successfully drill, we did not get our normal amount of powder sample to do all of the science analysis we wanted to, hence the additional drilling. We'll be able to assess on Wednesday whether our third checkout passes our engineering criteria to proceed with a full drill. In addition to the preload checkout, we have a Sol 4123 environmental science block with Navcam measurements to determine scatterings of atmospheric aerosols, take a cloud movie, and search for dust devils. We will also take Mastcam measurements to measure optical depth.



On Sol 4124, we will not have any arm activities while we wait for our engineers to assess the target checkout, and will focus on more science measurements. In our first science block, we have planned ChemCam measurements to document bedrock geochemistry, take spectroscopic measurements of our drill tailings from the first Mineral King drill target, and take long distance imaging of "Fascination Turret," a nearby ridge of interest. We also have planned Mastcam and Navcam activities to measure optical depth, document ChemCam targets, and collect stereo documentation of a nearby outcrop rock. Later on the same sol, we will take additional Mastcam imaging of our "Florence Peak" target which we have been observing for a number of sols. We are interested in how our measurements are changing over time. We will also be taking additional Navcam measurements as we continue monitoring atmospheric aerosols and atmospheric opacity in the current dusty environment.



We're excited to get our engineering data back from our third "Mineral King" target to see if we can do another drill!




Written by Remington Free


]]>
Sols 4123-4124: Third Time's the Charm! 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.
Sols 4120-4122: Mars Throws Us a Curveball! Read article: Sols 4120-4122: Mars Throws Us a Curveball!

Earth planning date: Friday, March 8, 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. While we did get a successful X-ray diffraction CheMin analysis, we did not quite have enough sample left for SAM to be able to complete their Evolved Gas Analysis (EGA). The rover engineers selected a new potential drill spot on the same block, and this morning we got the results of the APXS, MAHLI and preload test (to check for stability and drillability) on that spot. While the chemistry and imaging indicated that it was a good candidate the preload test did not pass. The selected target was just a little too close to the rover. As the APXS strategic planner today, I reported the results of the APXS chemical analysis to the team; we were looking for the "Mineral King2" area to have a similar composition to the first drill target. We found out about the failure of the preload test as we were ready to deliver our preliminary plan, but we are all used to reacting to the surprises that Mars occasionally sends our way! The science, engineering and uplink teams did an excellent job responding to the sudden change of plans and we managed to come up with a homerun, version 2 of our plan to accommodate the late-breaking news, taking advantage of the extra power and time available to us, given that we were not proceeding with drilling!



The geologists planned ChemCam LIBS on two targets, "Vernal Falls" and "Unicorn Peak," which will also be documented with Mastcam. The two targets are on a nearby polygonally fractured block, the same block as the previous "Roaring River" target. ChemCam will also utilize its remote imaging capabilities to continue looking at the layering in the "Texoli" butte and the chaotic structure within the nearby Gediz Vallis deposit (see my previous blog for rationale). We are taking advantage of the unexpected bonus time and power to cross a few Mastcam liens off our list. Mastcam will extend imaging in and around the "Cottonwood Pass" and "Mount Carillon" areas to provide more context to the Mineral King drill site and surrounding area. We are also acquiring a MARDI image to monitor how the wind might be moving sand and dust around as we remain parked at this location.



All that extra power and time meant that the environmental scientists were able to plan a glutton of observations, especially useful right now as Curiosity is in a dust storm watch scenario, as dust activity increases on Mars. Environmental Navcam observations include line of sight observations, two dust movies, two 360° sky surveys, as well as zenith and suprahorizon movies. We are also acquiring Mastcam tau and sky column observations, as well as planning coordinated ChemCam passive sky and APXS atmospheric activities. The plan is not complete without the standard REMS, DAN and RAD activities.



The rover engineers have found another viable spot on the same block as "Mineral King," a bit further from the rover, so we will probably try our triage drill activities on the new target when we resume planning next week. We are all hoping for a more successful outcome than for Mineral King2.




Written by Lucy Thompson, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick


]]>
Sols 4120-4122: Mars Throws Us a Curveball! 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.
Sols 4118-4119: Can I Have a Second Serving, Please? Oh, Me, Too! Read article: Sols 4118-4119: Can I Have a Second Serving, Please? Oh, Me, Too!

Earth planning date: Wednesday, March 6, 2024



Imagine you are sitting at a dining table with a few friends, and you had a small portion of delicious food, but you want some more. And instead of just helping yourself, you have to ask a friend to get it for you, but before they can do so, you'll need to ask everyone around the table if you actually may bother your friend to do so… That's about how the SAM team must have felt today, but it's also not the first time they had to do it, so they knew how to ask, and of course are getting their second helping. What that means is that 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.



But that was not the only negotiation we had to do today… we also needed to accommodate a lot of interesting observations in just a tiny amount of time, which is of course impossible. The way we make these decisions is by asking: What can we do later, and what would not be the same if it had to wait? Those are interesting discussions, and they require the entire expertise of the team present. It turned out that most things can wait just a little longer, and one is looking for a change between two measurements, so, it's even beneficial for this observation to wait a little longer. I was the Science Theme Lead for the Geology and Mineralogy planning group today, which is the role to help manage the decision making. Honestly, I am glad I am not new to the role as today felt a little bit like keeping kittens in the box (yes, you don't always know where every single one is!). But with the excellent team on today (someone called us the ‘sporty people'), we managed to have everything lined up even before the allocated time for the Geo-planning! And here is what Curiosity will do:



With SAM's request for more sample granted, the next two sols will be to prepare the second drill very near the Mineral King target, called "Mineral King2." There will be the preload test – pushing on the rock with the drill bit to make sure it's stable and doesn't move or crack during drilling, and APXS and MAHLI on the potential new drill spot. That will take a lot of the energy available, and we'll have very little left for other activities.



Nevertheless, ChemCam is also getting seconds, this time of a fractured target, to see if we can get more data of the fracture itself. It's a tiny target and hard to hit, but we'll try again and this way add to our data from Roaring River, called "Roaring River 2." ChemCam is also adding to its long-distance imaging footage of the Texoli area. Other activities include dust devil movies and atmosphere opacity measurements, as we are in the dusty times of the martian year. DAN is measuring the water content in the ground, too, completing a full plan that makes optimal use of the resources we have available for these two sols. Let's see how the seconds tasted when we get the data!




Written by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University


]]>
Sols 4118-4119: Can I Have a Second Serving, Please? Oh, Me, Too! 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.
Sols 4116-4117: Rover Kinesthetics Read article: Sols 4116-4117: Rover Kinesthetics

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.




Written by Scott VanBommel


]]>
Sols 4116-4117: Rover Kinesthetics ​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.”
Sols 4114-4115: Bingo! It's Official – Curiosity's 40th Successful Drill Hole on Mars! Read article: Sols 4114-4115: Bingo! It's Official – Curiosity's 40th Successful Drill Hole on Mars!

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.'




Written by Lucy Thompson, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick


]]>
Sols 4114-4115: Bingo! It's Official – Curiosity's 40th Successful Drill Hole on Mars! 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.
Sols 4110-4111: Mining Into Mineral King Read article: Sols 4110-4111: Mining Into Mineral King

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
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.




Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory


]]>
Sols 4110-4111: Mining Into Mineral King The planning team came in after the weekend to see another beautiful Martian drill hole on the target Mineral King!
Sols 4110-4111: Mining Into Mineral King Read article: Sols 4110-4111: Mining Into Mineral King

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
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.




Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory


]]>
Sols 4110-4111: Mining Into Mineral King The planning team came in after the weekend to see another beautiful Martian drill hole on the target Mineral King!
Sols 4107-4109: Drilling Mineral King Read article: Sols 4107-4109: Drilling Mineral King

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!




Written by Sharon Purdy


]]>
Sols 4107-4109: Drilling Mineral King 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.
Sols 4104-4106: Dark Band Drill Surprise Read article: Sols 4104-4106: Dark Band Drill Surprise

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!




Written by Natalie Moore


]]>
Sols 4104-4106: Dark Band Drill Surprise 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.
Sols 4100-4103: Moving "Inland" From Gediz Vallis Channel Read article: Sols 4100-4103: Moving

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.




Written by Abigail Fraeman, Planetary Geologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory


]]>
Sols 4100-4103: Moving "Inland" From Gediz Vallis Channel In this weekend's plan, Curiosity will continue to support two sets of long-term science campaigns.
Sols 4098-4099: With Love From Mars Read article: Sols 4098-4099: With Love From Mars

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.




Written by Alex Innanen


]]>
Sols 4098-4099: With Love From Mars Here on Earth, it’s Valentine’s Day, and I’ve been thinking about our new workspace a bit like a box of chocolates.
Sols 4096-4097: Fun Math and a New Butte Read article: Sols 4096-4097: Fun Math and a New Butte

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 212, 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.




Written by Kristen Bennett, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center


]]>
Sols 4096-4097: Fun Math and a New Butte One side effect of enjoying a very long mission is reaching fun number milestones.
Sols 4093-4094: A Feast of Images! Read article: Sols 4093-4094: A Feast of Images!

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!




Written by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University


]]>
Sols 4093-4094: A Feast of Images! 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!
Sols 4089-4090: Ripple Me This… Read article: Sols 4089-4090: Ripple Me This…

Earth planning date: Monday, February 05, 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. Curiosity also completed a ~13m drive – an achievement considering the terrain – and approached its new workspace with a closer view of Gediz Vallis Ridge and a large wind-blown ridge which is either a Transverse Aeolian Ridge (TAR), a wind-formed mound of sand smaller than a dune, or maybe a megaripple.



As Keeper of the Plan for the Geology theme group, I was busy making sure all the geology-related requests from the instrument teams were recorded accurately into the plan to be transmitted to the rover. The targeted part of the plan (the first sol) was very sand-focused. While widespread on Mars, TARs and megaripples are much rarer on Earth, so we seize any opportunity to study these features up-close and in situ. Most of the opportunistic science time of the rover was planned to be spent imaging the sand target, named "Knapsack Pass", with an extensive 32 frame Mastcam mosaic and a ChemCam passive raster to improve our understandings of its chemistry and formation. We also continued our investigation of the layered sulfates. We planned contact science, APXS and MAHLI, to target sulfate bedrock, "Willow Springs", a ChemCam LIBS to target flakey sulfate bedrock, "Triple Falls", and planned Mastcam coverage of a small bowl-shaped depression in the sulfates, "Elinore Lake". Even after all of these activities, there was still enough time to work towards our other science goal, the imaging campaign of Gediz Vallis ridge, through capturing part of the ridge with both ChemCam and Mastcam coverage.



After a short drive, our untargeted part of the plan on the second sol will be focused on some environmental science-theme group activities. At the moment, on Mars, we're in dust storm season so the environmental scientists are keeping their eyes out on all things dust. This means that planning is focused on dust devil movies and surveys. We finished off the plan with one of ChemCam's automated AEGIS (Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science) activities.




Written by
Amelie Roberts
Graduate Student at Imperial College London


]]>
Sols 4089-4090: Ripple Me This… 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.
Sols 4086-4088: Groundhog Day in Gale Read article: Sols 4086-4088: Groundhog Day in Gale

Earth planning date: Friday, February 2, 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. Luckily, we didn't have a Groundhog-Day-movie moment too; All of our plans from Wednesday completed successfully leaving us in a brand new location in Gale crater. Unluckily, we had intermittent Earth-based software issues that made us choose between planning contact science with the arm or driving to a new location for next week. The team ultimately decided to drive away so we could take full advantage of the rare, flat-ish terrain here allowing us to image all the rover wheels with MAHLI during the drive. My role today as Mastcam Uplink Lead was highly productive - we planned over 220 images to be taken this weekend! We also had a new science member join the Mastcam team today, so it was a fun and challenging day for us.



The first sol contains a standard midday remote science block with ChemCam LIBS, RMI, and Mastcam activities including a huge mosaic of the upper Gediz Vallis. The second sol contains more of the same, but we're also testing what it looks like to take images with the Mastcam Left camera again since it's been occluded by its own filter wheel. To take in-focus images with the occluded Mastcam Left (which looks like this as a full frame), we are sub framing our own CCD to only store data from the pixels on the left-hand side. If all goes well, we should just see smaller images coming back to Earth showing none of the occluded part.



On the third sol, we drive away and attempt to take a full look at the wheels with MAHLI, Navcam, and Mastcam Right. We do this every kilometer or so to keep track of wheel integrity. The rover will drive a small amount and take images a total of five times, until all sides of the wheels have been imaged. MARDI takes advantage of wheel imaging by taking a single MARDI image at each wheel imaging stop, for extra ground coverage. After the wheel imaging we'll continue to our end-of-drive destination and take the post-drive imaging needed for Monday's plan. It doesn't sound like a lot when I type it out, and I intentionally left out some smaller activities in the plan, but believe me when I say everyone on the team was working hard today! I hope our rover isn't a fan of Groundhog Day so it doesn't have to be planned again.




Written by Natalie Moore


]]>
Sols 4086-4088: Groundhog Day in Gale 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.
Sols 4084-4085: A Drive With a View Read article: Sols 4084-4085: A Drive With a View

Earth planning date: Wednesday, January 31, 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. The rover is tantalizingly close to the base of the upper Gediz Vallis ridge and the team is very excited for the spectacular geology ahead.



Today I served as the Geology Keeper of the Plan where I recorded all the details of the science activities that were proposed by science and instrument team members. We kicked off planning for sol 4084 by analyzing a finely layered rock named 'Grizzly Lakes' with the dust removal tool (DRT), APXS, and MAHLI imaging. Just beyond 'Grizzly Lakes,' ChemCam and Mastcam teamed up to characterize a crescent-shaped rock, 'Gorge of Despair,' to investigate flakey dark material standing in relief on the surface of the rock. The Mastcam team created a mosaic of the workspace in addition to three mosaics that characterized the local bedrock and sand at 'Roads End,' 'Knapsack Pass,' and 'Rae Lake.' Mastcam also took a mosaic of 'Round Lake' to image what is likely a small impact crater. We pushed the plan to the limit by including two long distance ChemCam RMI images of a dark band in the distance, and an outcrop along the upper Gediz Vallis Ridge to characterize the variety of rocks. Lastly, we included a Navcam mosaic of the view behind the rover to document several of the layers and buttes in Chenapau, Orinoco, and Kukenan that we drove by in recent months.



And then we hit the road! We planned a 10-meter drive that will put Curiosity on a topographic bench that should provide a mouth-watering vantage point to document a section of the upper Gediz Vallis ridge that is informally named 'Fascination Turret.' We hope to evaluate the processes that deposited the sediment in this ridge to understand how it formed and how it was later eroded to its present-day form.



On Sol 4085 we scheduled a ChemCam AEGIS activity; AEGIS is an acronym for Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science and is a mode where the rover identifies and selects a geological target from navigation camera images based on a set of guidelines set by scientists back here on Earth. Several environmental observations are included in the plan to monitor dust devil activity as well as zenith, suprahorizon, and Tau observations that will measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere.




Written by Sharon Purdy


]]>
Sols 4084-4085: A Drive With a View 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.
Sols 4082-4083: A New Perspective Read article: Sols 4082-4083: A New Perspective

Earth planning date: January 29, 2023



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. This includes views of the upper Gediz Vallis Ridge that we haven't been able to see before, and a brand new workspace right in front of us to explore before we drive off on the second sol.



We're taking full advantage of the new view that our location affords us with a lot of contact science on the first sol. We'll use the dust removal tool on both 'June Lake' and 'Martha Lake', two targets on the same block that will be investigated by MAHLI and APXS. MAHLI will also be examining 'Deerhorn Mountain', a dark feature that may be embedded in the same block. ChemCam is also getting in on the up-close science with LIBS on 'June Lake', and the slightly further afield 'Sky Blue Lake', a fractured rock.



Further afield, Mastcam and ChemCam are both capturing mosaics of the upper Gediz Vallis Ridge, continuing to fill in our picture of this feature that we've been alongside for so long. From reading through these updates, it may sound like we're imaging the Gediz Vallis Ridge almost every sol, but it's a huge feature and as we continue alongside it there's always more to see, including this new perspective we got today. Mastcam also has a couple more mosaics closer by on the ChemCam LIBS target 'Sky Blue Lake' and 'Tokopah Falls', a bedrock in the midground with a raised vein.



As Deborah said on Friday, we've crossed the threshold into the time of year where we've seen global dust storms, the environmental theme group is keeping an eye on the dust situation. We have a few tools to help us with this in today's plan this includes a 360 degree dust devil survey, two line-of-sight observations looking at the amount of dust in the crater, and a tau looking at the total amount of dust in the atmospheric column. We're also getting a suprahorizon movie, which is normally used for clouds but has been known to catch dust movement too.




Written by Alex Innanen


]]>
Sols 4082-4083: A New Perspective 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.
Sol 4078: Polka Dots and Sunbeams Read article: Sol 4078: Polka Dots and Sunbeams

Earth planning date: Wednesday, January 24, 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. ChemCam will target one of these features, 'Tehipite Dome,' while MAHLI and APXS will target a different feature on the same block, 'Sierra Columbine,' after DRT brushes it. When we are investigating such features, the more data the better!



ChemCam also planned long distance imaging of two of the features dominating our skyline — the 'Kukenan' butte and the Gediz Vallis Ridge. The mosaics had to be carefully planned to avoid any risk of sun getting into the ChemCam optics — what we colloquially refer to as 'sun safety.' The mosaics balance sun safety with imaging the exact features of interest on each rise — a delicate dance to achieve great science!



Mastcam joined in imaging of the Gediz Vallis Ridge, overlapping the ChemCam-targeted area to provide context and additional coverage. Mastcam's other planned mosaics focused closer to the rover, capturing different structures and features of interest. 'Frozen Pass Lake' looks at the light and dark banding we have been exploring from our current perspective on it. 'Rough Spur' captures a near-vertical vein that sharply divides a bedrock block. On one side of the vein, the bedrock exhibits thin layers, but on the other side of the vein, the bedrock is structureless. The 'Mule Ears' bedrock block has multiple subparallel veins that artfully fan out through the block.



Before the rover drives further south and uphill for the weekend, Navcam will look for dust devils and clouds near midday. DAN passive, REMS, and RAD run before, during and after the drive, and REMS and RAD continue long into the wee hours before the next plan begins. Once we are settled in at our next, hopefully equally delightful workspace, Navcam and Mastcam will measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere in the late afternoon and MARDI will image the terrain beneath the rover near twilight. Whatever will we find next?




Written by Michelle Minitti, Planetary Geologist at Framework


]]>
Sol 4078: Polka Dots and Sunbeams 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.
Sols 4076–4077: Driving Into Springtime Read article: Sols 4076–4077: Driving Into Springtime

Earth planning date: Monday, January 22, 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. However, it is starting to warm back up, not just here but on Mars as well. We're just past the halfway point of the current Mars Year (numbered 37 in the system created by Todd Clancy in 2000), meaning that springtime has now arrived at Gale. Mars is also rapidly approaching perihelion, or its closest distance from the Sun. At this time of year, daily maximum temperatures typically hover just below freezing, not dissimilar to Toronto today. These higher temperatures can be very helpful for us during planning, as they mean that we have to spend less of our power on heating Curiosity's instruments, leaving more for us to do science with!



Both science theme groups made good use of the favourable power situation, fitting in just about three hours of activities between the two sols we planned today. We begin with an early-morning investigation of the target 'Manzanita,' first using DRT to clear away the ubiquitous Martian dust before placing APXS atop it. With the arm pulled away from Manzanita, we move on to ChemCam, beginning with LIBS on 'University Peak.' ChemCam RMI will then take a mosaic of a region of Kukenán (the large butte that forms the eastern wall of Gediz Vallis) south of where the rover is currently parked. Once ChemCam has finished its work, it's Mastcam's time to shine, starting with a set of images to document the results of the University Peak LIBS activity. Mastcam will then take a look off in the direction that we plan to drive, and finish off by documenting some sedimentary layers at 'Trail Crest' and searching for polygonal fracturing at 'Atwell Grove.' Before driving away from this location, we get up close and personal with Manzanita one more time, brushing it again with DRT and imaging it with MAHLI.



The second sol of this plan begins with ChemCam. Because we don't know exactly where the rover will be parked following the drive on the first sol, we can't select LIBS targets for the second sol in advance. Instead, the rover will do that itself, autonomously choosing targets based on a set of parameters provided to it. The second sol will finish off with some remote sensing of the atmosphere, including a lengthy half-hour Navcam movie to look for dust activity north of our current location and Mastcam imaging of the sky to measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere.




Written by Conor W. Hayes


]]>
Sols 4076–4077: Driving Into Springtime 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.
Sols 4073-4075: A Fractured Filled Plan Read article: Sols 4073-4075: A Fractured Filled Plan

Earth planning date: Friday, 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. We are interested in cracks and fractures and the fracture fill (the material between cracks) as the chemistry and the physical features can tell us lots about conditions at the time of their formation, including environmental conditions and timing of the cracks, relative to each other and the host bedrock. The polygonal fractures we saw last week are not as well developed here but there are so many other textures here to work with.



First we will focus on the large block at the front of the workspace. APXS will examine the brushed bedrock target "Mount Langley," an area without any obvious fractures on the top of the slab to determine the bulk chemistry of the rocks in this area. Then we look at fracture fill in "Sleeping Beauty's Tower" in one of the sub-vertical parallel lines or fractures (crosscutting the horizontal layers) along the side of the large block. In addition to the typical MAHLI imaging of a science target, the MAHLI team opted to add frames around this target, giving even more topographic information. ChemCam will use LIBS to look at "Moraine Lake," an area of polygonal features on the top of the block, and Mastcam will image the whole block. ChemCam will also use LIBS on "Penstemon," a rather gnarly looking smaller block in the workspace, and take a passive raster on layering at "Vidette Meadow."



Mastcam will take several other mosaics. The "Chickenfoot Lake" mosaic is a 7 by 4 mosaic (4 rows of 7 slightly overlapping images) covering another area of polygons to the left of the immediate workspace. "Diaz Pass" is a smaller (4x2) mosaic focused on a linear zone of shattered appearing rock, surrounded by large bedrock blocks, roughly 17 metres on the right-hand side of the rover. On Tuesday, Mastcam imaged potential polygons in the "Incense Cedar" target; today, we will take a further 3x2 mosaic of the same target, looking this time at some bedding layers side-on. Further afield, the ChemCam RMI will be used to study the stratigraphy at the base of the large butte "Texoli" and an area along the Gediz Vallis ridge.



Of course, geology is not the only focus for this plan – the environmental theme group (ENV) have several activities too. REMS will measure temperatures, whilst Mastcam solar taus monitor the dust in the atmosphere, allowing us to track any increases or decreases in dust content. A series of movies looking for dust devils and for dust in out towards the crater rim will be carried out over the three sols of the weekend plan.



All this and a drive too – heading onwards to see where we end up next!




Written by Catherine O'Connell-Cooper, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick-Cooper


]]>
Sols 4073-4075: A Fractured Filled Plan 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.
Sols 4070-4072: So Many Textures, So Little Time Read article: Sols 4070-4072: So Many Textures, So Little Time

Earth planning date: Tuesday, January 16, 2024.



After a long holiday weekend, Curiosity is back hard at work. The first sol of the plan begins with some spectroscopy and imaging. ChemCam LIBS is doing a 5-spot observation of the target "Rovana," which is a bedrock target. We then take a 10-frame RMI of "Texoli," which is a layered butte to the south of the rover. Mastcam also images Rovana, as well as taking mosaics on two fractured bedrock blocks, "Shepherd Creek" and "Richter Creek," and "Incense Cedar," which is a polygonally fractured block in the direction in which we are heading. Navcam also takes some atmospheric observations, including a dust devil movie and a line-of-sight image.



After a few hours of napping, Curiosity will be ready to get her arm exercise in. There are two types of blocks in the workspace – one which looks smooth and the other that looks layered (laminated). The Science Team requested brushing and looking at both types of rock. They are hoping to be able to measure grain size, which helps us understand how the rocks were formed. The Arm Rover Planner had a very challenging time finding spots on both types of blocks that were smooth enough that we could brush them to clean them off. Ultimately, with the help of another Rover Planner, suitable targets were found for each rock texture, though the brush on the laminated target had to be centered on some smaller, less prominent lamination to be safe. The unlaminated target is named "Sheelite," and "Dorst" is the name of the laminated target. Both targets will be brushed prior to taking MAHLI images and evening APXS integrations. After all the arm observations are complete, the rover will stow the arm to be ready to drive on the next sol and go to sleep.



The next morning, on sol 4071, Curiosity kicks off almost 8 hours of DAN passive measurement in parallel with more spectroscopy and imaging. ChemCam uses LIBS to observe the Dorst contact science target, and then takes RMI mosaics of Incense Cedar and "Aspen Springs," which is a distant target that may have an exposed vertical stratigraphic section, showing a longer period of history at that location. Mastcam follows up by imaging Dorst, and then Navcam takes a suprahorizon movie to monitor atmospheric conditions. Finally we take a Navcam high-resolution 6x1 mosaic as an experiment to combine with the Mastcam M100 to get both stereo and color.



Next, Curiosity gets on the road, driving toward a nearby block that is our next contact science target. The block is part of the "Painted Lady" area which has a lot of polygonal features in the rock. The included image shows the area into which we are driving. The terrain here continues to have a lot of larger rocks and a lot of small pointy rocks that can damage Curiosity's wheels; there is also a bit of a slope and some sand. Even though the rock is only 7m away from us, the difficult terrain is forcing us to take a less-direct, longer path.



After the drive, we take our standard post-drive imaging to look at our new workspace and the direction of the next drive. We then do a three hour Navcam atmospheric observation, which we hope might catch a dust devil in the late afternoon. We drop in this observation when we want the rover to stay awake to keep her from overcharging her batteries. After a twilight MARDI image of the ground underneath the rover, Curiosity sleeps for the night.



On the last sol of the plan, we have a short block of untargeted science. We're taking a ChemCam AEGIS observation to autonomously look for something interesting nearby as well as some Navcam atmospheric line-of-sight imaging.




Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory


]]>
Sols 4070-4072: So Many Textures, So Little Time After a long holiday weekend, Curiosity is back hard at work. The first sol of the plan begins with some spectroscopy and imaging.
Sols 4064-4066: A Bird in the Hand... Read article: Sols 4064-4066: A Bird in the Hand...

Earth planning date: Wednesday, January 10, 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. The image above shows the unstowed arm performing contact science on a previous target 'Chagoopa.' A discussion arose, debating whether we should slightly reposition here — known as a 'bump' — into a good place for contact science, or if we should keep driving onwards and upwards. Ultimately, the discussion concluded 'a bird in the hand,' and we chose to slightly readjust and bump here in preparation for contact science during the upcoming weekend plan.



A lack of contact science today meant remote sensing science could have a field day! Today we planned 1.5 hours of remote activities, beginning with a ChemCam LIBS on the polygonal fractures on target 'Evolution Valley.' Geo also planned two long distance ChemCam RMIs of upper Gediz Vallis Ridge. The Mastcam team were able to complete every request for an image in the time we had today, including six bedrock targets all named creek: 'Cartridge Creek,' 'Carroll Creek,' 'Cataract Creek,' 'George Creek,' 'Hogback Creek,' and 'Pinyon Creek.' The planned science on this first sol ends with a Navcam suprahorizon movie.



After the targeted science, the rover is on the move — although not very far! We'll bump here ready for a whopping 3 hours of planned science over the weekend, hopefully including contact science on the polygonal fractures in this workspace. On the second sol of this plan the rover will automatically take a ChemCam LIBS target to maximise science return and Navcam will search for dust devils. Here's to a wonderful weekend full of science and making the most of this bird in the hand.




Written by Emma Harris


]]>
Sols 4064-4066: A Bird in the Hand... 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.