Sol 948: Good Morning Mars

6 April 2015

As we started the planning day before sunrise, I was reminded of the first three months of the mission that we spent living on Mars time.   Today is an early “slide sol,” meaning that the planning timeline is shifted 1.5 hours earlier in order to compensate for our downlink… Read More

Sols 946-947: MAHLI mosaic

3 April 2015

  The MAHLI operations team did a lot of good work preparing for Sol 946, so I expected that it would be an easy day for me as uplink lead.  Unfortunately, a problem on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) prevented some of the data we expected to receive in time for planning from… Read More

Sols 944-945: Return to Garden City

1 April 2015

After receiving and analyzing the most recent "Garden City" data, the MSL team decided that more data are needed to better understand this interesting outcrop.  Therefore, after acquiring some ChemCam and Mastcam observations near "Kanosh," the rover will drive back to Garden City on Sol… Read More

Sols 942-943 Cap Rock “Kanosh”

30 March 2015

Over the weekend, Curiosity drove further into Artist’s Drive to investigate a rock named “Kanosh.”  This boulder appears to represent the “capping unit,” so we’re planning to study Kanosh in more detail to understand this resistant type of… Read More

Sols 939-941: Leaving Garden City

27 March 2015

Ryan and I are working ChemCam tactical operations again today, planning 3 sols to get MSL through the upcoming weekend.  We therefore focused on planning Sol 939 ChemCam observations of "Live Oak Canyon," "Idyllwild," and "Blanco Mountain."  Mastcam images of these and other… Read More

Sols 937-938: Veinfest

25 March 2015

Interest in the dark and bright veins continues to be high, so the Sol 937 plan is dominated by observations of these features.  But first, ChemCam and Mastcam will observe the unsieved Telegraph Peak drill sample dump pile.  Ryan is ChemCam science uplink lead today, and I helped him… Read More

A Mars Marathon!

24 March 2015

With the drive on Sol 3968, Opportunity has traveled more than a marathon’s distance on the surface of Mars!  This is the first time that any spacecraft has exceeded the 42.195 kilometers of a marathon on the surface of another world.  It has taken more than 11 years, and there have… Read More

Sols 935-936 More Contact Science at Garden City

23 March 2015

Last Friday we planned some additional contact science at “Garden City.”  Unfortunately, an error resulted in the loss of contact science during Sols 931-933.  A change needed in commanding is understood, and the rover is healthy and has not moved, so we’ll be… Read More

Sols 932-934 What’s Growing in Garden City

20 March 2015

While many of us in the northern hemisphere are celebrating the first day of spring, Curiosity is busy tending to her “Garden City.” Sadly there are no flowers in sight, but the outcrop contains some beautiful veins.  This MAHLI image from Sol 930 shows some of the complex… Read More

Sols 930-931: Arm Science

18 March 2015

The MAHLI team was well prepared for contact science today, but had to scramble to react to news early this morning that the right front wheel is perched on a small rock and therefore is not in a safe position for arm contact with the surface.  We had originally planned to brush a… Read More