Sol 1427: Driving away

10 August 2016

After successfully completing the drilling activities at Marimba, it’s time to get back on the road.  Today’s plan is focused on targeted remote sensing and driving.  The plan starts with a Navcam movie to monitor the atmosphere, followed by Mastcam documentation of several… Read More

Sol 1426: CheMin data readout and contact science at Marimba

9 August 2016

Today’s plan is focused on retrieving CheMin data from the overnight analysis of the Marimba drill sample and MAHLI and APXS observations of the drill hole and cuttings.  The plan starts with a short science block for atmospheric monitoring, followed by CheMin data readout.  Then… Read More

Sol 1425: Trying again to deliver drill sample to CheMin

8 August 2016

The second attempt to drill into Marimba went well, but the new drill sample was not transferred to CHIMRA due to a recurrence of the electrical short in the percussion mechanism.  Therefore, the sample was not delivered to CheMin as planned.  So we tried again on Sol 1425, this… Read More

Sols 1422-1424: It’s my party and I’ll drill if I want to…

5 August 2016

 Happy birthday Curiosity!  As we celebrate four Earth years of operations on Mars, Curiosity will be busy collecting another drill sample.  In honor of her birthday, check out all of the great science that we’ve accomplished in the last year in this video. Curiosity’s… Read More

Sol 1421: Determining drill activities at Marimba

5 August 2016

On Sol 1420 we planned a full drill hole on the target “Marimba” to characterize the composition of the Murray mudstone in this location.  However, we came in early this morning to find that the drill hole didn’t penetrate very far into this rock target, as seen in the above… Read More

Sol 1420: Drilling Marimba

3 August 2016

The Sol 1419 activities completed successfully, including cleaning the remaining Oudam sample out of CHIMRA.  So the focus of the Sol 1420 plan is drilling into the Marimba bedrock target.  But first, MAHLI will image the "noseprint" of the APXS contact sensor in the Oudam dump pile… Read More

Sol 1419: Cleaning CHIMRA

2 August 2016

The drilling campaign on Marimba continues, dominating the Sol 1419 plan.  Again, the tactical operations team was able to squeeze some additional science activities into the plan:  ChemCam and Mastcam will observe a laminated bedrock exposure called "Namibe," and the Right Mastcam… Read More

Sol 1418: Preparing to drill Marimba

1 August 2016

Today’s plan was all about setting up for our next drill hole. Originally there was going to be no science block at all, but we ended up with a little bit more power than expected, so we managed to fit in a ChemCam observation of the expected drill target, called “Marimba” along… Read More

Sols 1416-1417: Approaching the next drill target

29 July 2016

MSL drove another 44 meters on Sol 1414, into an area with larger blocks of bedrock.  This looks like a good area to drill into the Murray Formation, so nearby targets were selected and we are planning a short drive to position the vehicle for drilling.  But first, ChemCam and… Read More

Sols 1414-1416: Keep on truckin'

27 July 2016

MSL drove over 45 meters on Sol 1412, to a location with lots of bedrock exposed but most of it is coated by dust.  So again we decided not to deploy the arm and acquire lots of ChemCam data instead.  LIBS observations of targets named "Okahandja," "Swakopmund," and "Walvis Bay"… Read More