Sols 1598-1599: Imaging Ireson Hill
1 February 2017The drive on Sol 1596 went well, and Curiosity drove ~21 m to the southwest, providing a great view of “Ireson Hill,” seen in the above Navcam image. Today’s two-sol plan looks pretty similar to the last. We’ll start with MAHLI and APXS of the target… Read More
Sols 1596-1597: Approaching the dunes for round two
30 January 2017Over the weekend, Curiosity drove an additional ~ 26 meters to the southwest, as we prepare for another investigation of the active sand dunes. We’re still a few more drives away from the dunes, but looking forward to the next campaign. I was the GSTL today, and we planned some… Read More
Sols 1593-1595: Dead River, Misery, and Boil Mountain?
27 January 2017Looks like the team had some fun using the less desirable names for rock targets in today’s plan! These are all named after rock formations and geologic features from Bar Harbor, Maine. MSL drove another 8 meters on Sol 1591, and we’ll continue to drive in the weekend… Read More
Sols 1591-1592: Early Wheel Check-Up
25 January 2017The Sol 1589-1590 plan went well, with a successful ~31 meter drive. ChemCam remains “sick” and some diagnostic activities are being planned for the weekend plan. We are approaching the Bagnold Dunes, so in order to save time and allow more room for science activities at the dunes,… Read More
Sols 1589-1590: Team Meeting
23 January 2017This week most of the Curiosity team is headed out to California for a team meeting. I’m not at the meeting because I have a new baby at home, so I’ll be following along remotely! Even though there’s a team meeting this week, we’re still keeping the rover busy. Over the… Read More
Sols 1586-1588: ChemCam sick
20 January 2017MSL drove another 13 meters on Sol 1585, again placing the rover in a good position for contact science. But the telemetry also showed that ChemCam had been marked "sick," so we will not be able to use ChemCam this weekend while the problem is diagnosed. The weekend plan is still… Read More
Sol 1585: Examining "Jewell"
19 January 2017After a 31-meter drive on Sol 1584, MSL is in position for contact science on a block of bedrock in front of the rover. So, as MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead today I focused on planning a full suite of MAHLI images of a target named "Jewell" that appears to expose sedimentary structures. … Read More
Sol 1584: Touch and go at Frost Pond
18 January 2017On Sol 1583 Curiosity drove 16 m, which set us up for touch-and-go contact science today. I was the GKOP again, and it was a fun day of planning contact science and remote sensing. The plan starts with a short APXS integration on the target “Frost Pond,” (seen in the middle… Read More
Sol 1583: Driving and remote sensing
17 January 2017The 4-sol weekend plan went well, and Curiosity drove ~ 44 m further to the south. I was the GKOP today and it was a fairly straightforward plan focused on driving and remote sensing. We’re in late slide sols this week, which means that today we started 2 hours later than usual to wait… Read More
Sol 1578: Investigating sedimentary structures
12 January 2017Curiosity had a successful drive of 45 m on Sol 1577. We’re continuing to characterize the Murray formation by investigating changes in composition and sedimentary structures as we ascend Mt. Sharp. Today’s plan provided another opportunity for touch and go contact science,… Read More
