Sols 1579-1582: A 4-sol plan

13 January 2017

After a 25-meter drive on Sol 1578, MSL is surrounded by more dark sand than usual, but there is enough rock exposed that we had a lot of science targets to choose from today.  Due to the US holiday on Monday, we are planning 4 sols today.  The first sol will include only REMS… Read More

Sol 1577: Another touch and go

11 January 2017

MSL drove almost 30 meters on Sol 1576, stopping in a location with a nice exposure of bedrock in the arm workspace.  MAHLI's optics look clean, so we planned a full suite of MAHLI images and a short APXS integration on a bedrock target named "Mansell Mountain."  Fitting the remote… Read More

Sol 1576: Arm fault

10 January 2017

MSL planning started 2 hours later than usual today because the Sol 1575 data needed for planning weren't expected until almost 10 AM PST.  Unfortunately, the news was not good:  An arm fault prevented the MAHLI full suite from completing, leaving the camera close to the surface with… Read More

Sol 1575: Investigating Dorr Mountain

9 January 2017

After a 25-meter drive on Sol 1574, MSL again has bedrock exposed in her arm workspace.  To balance desires to sample the composition of the rocks along the traverse and to make good progress toward the south, contact science and another drive are both planned for Sol 1575.  First,… Read More

Sols 1572-1574: New diagnostics

6 January 2017

MSL drove nearly 17 meters on Sol 1571, to a location with bedrock outcrops in the arm workspace.  So the weekend plan includes lots of arm work as well as remote observations.  On Sol 1572, MAHLI will take images of the REMS booms to diagnose recent problems with the wind… Read More

Sol 1571: Leaving Old Soaker

5 January 2017

The investigation of Old Soaker continues to go well, so we're planning to drive away on Sol 1571.  But first, ChemCam and Right Mastcam will observe darker bedrock patches named "Gilley Field" and "Fresh Meadow" and a dark clast called "North Bubble."  Mastcam will also acquire a… Read More

Sol 1570: Finishing up at Old Soaker

4 January 2017

The focus of the Sol 1570 plan is to finish our work at Old Soaker.  The APXS will be retracted and the arm moved out of the way for ChemCam and Right Mastcam observations of Huguenot Head and ChemCam measurements of a dark grey patch called "Valley Cove" and another observation of Deep… Read More

Sol 1569: Back to daily planning

3 January 2017

The MSL operations team is back at work after the holiday break, planning Sol 1569.  The activities planned for the holidays executed well, so we are proceeding with the investigation of the ridge/fracture patterns at Old Soaker.  First, ChemCam and Mastcam will observe the ridges… Read More

Sols 1566-1568: Preparing for the holidays

21 December 2016

Today was our last tactical planning day before the team takes a break over the holidays.  But that doesn’t mean that Curiosity will be resting!  A group of science team members and operations staff assembled an 8-sol plan that will execute over December 22-30, focused on… Read More

Sols 1555-1557: Lots of Targets!

19 December 2016

Our short drive over the weekend went well, and we are now at a new location with plenty of science targets to choose from. It’s been quite a while since we had a plan with this many new target names! The Sol 1555 plan starts off with a remote sensing science block. Navcam and Mastcam both… Read More