Names Approved for Five Tholi on Ceres

23 August 2016

The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature approved names for five features on Ceres: Aymuray Tholi, Cosecha Tholus, Hosil Tholus, Kwanzaa Tholus, and Mikeli Tholus. For more information, see the Ceres map in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Sols 1439-1440: Target names that start with Q

22 August 2016

Our 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 2016

We 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 2016

Once 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

Flagstaff Festival of Science - Fall 2017

2 October 2017

Join us September 22 - October 1, 2017 for the Flagstaff Festival of Science, a FREE 10-day event with field trips, guided hikes, star parties, open houses, hands-on exhibits, presentations and archaeological excavations. Astrogeology Science Center scientists Ken Herkenhoff, Tim Titus, Mike… Read More

Sol 1433: Butte-iful scenery

17 August 2016

Yestersol’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

Name Approved for Feature on Mars: Cilaos

16 August 2016

The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the name Cilaos for a crater on Mars. For more information, see the map for MC-29 in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Sol 1432: Crossing the sand

15 August 2016

The 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 2016

MSL 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 2016

MSL 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