Sol 133 Update on Curiosity from USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Good Parking Spot

19 December 2012

I was Geology Science Theme Group Lead today for the first time in several weeks, and it ended up being a busy day. We had to pick the location we want to park the rover during the Christmas/New Year's holiday break, and drive there on Sol 133 so that we get the images taken from the new location before the last planning session before the break. We are in "restricted" planning again, because Mars and Earth time our out of sync enough that we don't get data from the rover in time to plan the next sol. Therefore, we can't precisely target observations from the new location until Sol 135. We decided to drive to a place with a good view of the outcrops surrounding Yellowknife Bay to allow good imaging of these outcrops before the holiday break. As the images are returned during the break, we can use them to help decide where to perform the first drilling operation.

Back