Sols 1441-1442: Cruising through the Murray Buttes
24 August 2016Curiosity is making good progress through the Murray Buttes, and on Sol 1439 we drove another 34 m to the south. Today’s two-sol plan fits our familiar routine: a pre-drive science block, drive, post-drive imaging for targeting, and an untargeted science block on the second sol. … Read More
Sols 1439-1440: Target names that start with Q
22 August 2016Our weekend drive halted a little bit early, but everything is looking good and we will continue to drive in today’s plan. We will start off the Sol 1439 plan with ChemCam observations of the layered rock targets “Quibala” and “Quibaxe”. Mastcam will then image… Read More
Sol 1436: Smooth sailing
19 August 2016We are making good progress with our drives (we’re already approaching our next drill site!) and the road in front of us is looking pretty smooth. As usual we have a busy weekend planned. Sol 1436 starts off with ChemCam and Mastcam of the layered rock targets “Conda” and… Read More
Sols 1434-1435: Inspecting Wheels and Buttes
17 August 2016Once again our drive went smoothly and we’re planning to drive some more in today’s plan! The Sol 1434 plan starts out with ChemCam observations of the targets “Cubal” and “Soyo”. Mastcam will document those two targets and then continue the effort to study the… Read More
Sol 1433: Butte-iful scenery
17 August 2016Yestersol’s drive went nicely, so today the plan looks quite similar, with a remote sensing block followed by another 50 meters of driving! The Sol 1433 plan starts with ChemCam and Mastcam of the target “Klein Klipneus”. After that, Mastcam has a couple of mosaics to continue… Read More
Sol 1432: Crossing the sand
15 August 2016The weekend plan went well, so the plan for Sol 1432 is to keep driving! Curiosity will go about 52 meters across a patch of sand, but before that we have a short science block. ChemCam will observe the target “Longa” and Mastcam has two mosaics of the nearby buttes. After the drive, we… Read More
Sols 1429-1431: Power limited
12 August 2016MSL drove over 45 meters on Sol 1428, closer to the Murray Buttes. I helped select ChemCam targets again this morning, and was glad to see that some of them made it into the weekend plan. The primary constraint on planning today ended up being power--we tried to fit more into the… Read More
Sol 1428: Downlink limited
11 August 2016MSL drove 11 meters on Sol 1427, and a longer drive is planned for Sol 1428. I helped select ChemCam targets today; the number of possible science observations was constrained by the time available before the drive, so only one LIBS measurement is planned, on a bedrock target southeast… Read More
Sol 1427: Driving away
10 August 2016After successfully completing the drilling activities at Marimba, it’s time to get back on the road. Today’s plan is focused on targeted remote sensing and driving. The plan starts with a Navcam movie to monitor the atmosphere, followed by Mastcam documentation of several… Read More
Sol 1426: CheMin data readout and contact science at Marimba
9 August 2016Today’s plan is focused on retrieving CheMin data from the overnight analysis of the Marimba drill sample and MAHLI and APXS observations of the drill hole and cuttings. The plan starts with a short science block for atmospheric monitoring, followed by CheMin data readout. Then… Read More
