Sols 1511-1513: Brushing Penobscot
4 November 2016After driving over 40 meters on Sol 1509, MSL is ready for the 3-sol weekend plan. There are a couple of good-sized outcrops in the arm workspace, so we're planning contact science on Sol 1511. But first, Navcam will look for clouds and ChemCam will observe bedrock targets named… Read More
Sols 1509-1510: No contact science
2 November 2016MSL drove another 44 meters on Sol 1508, ending up in an area that again is partly covered by dark sand. There aren't any very compelling targets within the arm workspace, so we decided again to forgo contact science, and focused instead on remote observations. Planning is… Read More
Sol 1508: A sandy spot
1 November 2016MSL drove almost 30 meters on Sol 1507, into an area with more dark sand than we have been seeing recently. Because only a few rocks are exposed in the arm workspace, the tactical team decided against contact science in favor of maximizing the drive distance on Sol 1508. The view… Read More
Sol 1507: What’s lurking in Blackwoods and Witch Hole Pond?
31 October 2016Happy Halloween from Mars! Over the weekend Curiosity drove 51 m further to the south, and we continue to investigate the Murray formation. I was the GSTL and KOP today (what a treat!) and we had a busy morning trying to decide whether or not to do contact science or more remote sensing.… Read More
Sols 1504-1506: A "Wonderland" of Interesting Targets
28 October 2016It’s Friday, so that means we have another busy weekend plan! Our 37 meter drive yesterday brought us to a very interesting location with lots of targets to choose from in front of the rover. The weekend plan starts off on Sol 1504 with ChemCam and Mastcam observations of the veins… Read More
Sol 1503: Simple Plan
28 October 2016Everything went well in yesterday’s plan, with our drive taking us 25 meters farther along our “Mt. Sharp Ascent Route.” We started the day with some challenges caused by connectivity issues with team members outside of the US, particularly the ChemCam team. They were able to get… Read More
Sol 1502: Short Drive
26 October 2016Yesterday’s 46 meter drive went well, and the plan for Sol 1502 is to have another pretty typical remote sensing and driving sol. The Sol 1502 plan starts out with ChemCam observations of the bedrock target “St. Saveur” and an interesting transition between light-toned and… Read More
Sol 1501: Welcome to Bar Harbor
25 October 2016On Sol 1500 Curiosity drove 30 m to the south, crossing into a quadrangle that we informally named “Bar Harbor,” after Bar Harbor, Maine. As a reminder, prior to landing we divided up the landing ellipse and nearby areas into square quads (1.5 km on a side), and assigned each quad… Read More
Sol 1500: So long Sebina
24 October 2016Over the weekend Curiosity completed her investigation of the “Sebina” drill site, and we’re back on the road again. Before we hit the road we took another MAHLI image of the drill hole, and noticed just how quickly the wind has swept away the fines. The two images… Read More
Sols 1497-1499: A Very Busy Weekend
21 October 2016We’ve got quite a plan in store for the weekend, with every single instrument doing something, multiple arm activities, and a drive. Curiosity’s battery will be run all the way down to 35% which is quite rare, but necessary when there’s a lot to do! Sol 1497 starts off with… Read More
