Names Approved and a Name Changed on Ceres

20 June 2016

The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature approved the name Hanami Planum to replace the name Erntedank Planum on Ceres and approved a boundary change for Samhain Catenae. The following new names were also approved: Lociyo, Nepen, Tawals, Baltay Catena, Pongal Catena, Junina Catenae,… Read More

Sols 1375-1377: Another busy weekend

17 June 2016

The Sol 1373 drive completed successfully, moving the rover over 31 meters toward the south.  There's lots of bedrock exposed around the vehicle, but no flat patches large enough to brush in the arm workspace.  So MAHLI will take images of an unbrushed target called "Andara"… Read More

Sols 1373-1374: No touch, just go!

15 June 2016

The 32-meter Sol 1371 drive completed exactly as planned, giving the rover a good view of the path toward the south.  So another ~30-meter drive is planned for Sol 1373, after some remote science observations.  We had the option of using the DRT and taking MAHLI images of the brush… Read More

Names Approved for Craters on Mars: Bunnik, Langtang, Nqutu, and Talu

14 June 2016

The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved names for four craters on Mars: Bunnik, Langtang, Nqutu, and Talu. For more information, see the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Sols 1371-1372: Driving south

13 June 2016

The weekend drive went well, and Curiosity drove ~ 32 m to the south.  This southward path will eventually take us through a gap in the active sand dunes that will be easier for Curiosity to traverse.  We’re planning another drive today, which will take us in the direction of the… Read More

Sols 1368-1370: On the road again

10 June 2016

We received the engineering data that we needed to proceed with the final science activities at the Oudam drill site.  Today’s plan is focused on analyzing the pre-sieve dump pile and getting on the road again. The three-sol plan starts by moving the arm out of the way so we can target… Read More

Sols 1366-1367: Opportunistic contact science

8 June 2016

The day started off with some changes to the sol path due to some holes in the downlink.  Unfortunately some engineering camera and MAHLI images from Sol 1364 were not fully transmitted, so the team worked quickly to rearrange the intended activities this week.  Fortunately that also… Read More

Sols 1364-1365: Analyzing drill sample

6 June 2016

The Oudam drill campaign continues to go well, with sample acquired and ready for analysis.  Planning is now restricted, so we are planning 2 sols today.  On Sol 1364, ChemCam will acquire passive spectra of the drill tailings and a LIBS raster of the wall of the drill hole.  … Read More

Sols 1361-1363: Drilling Oudam

3 June 2016

The MSL Rover Planners have all the data they need to drill (no "mini-drill" required), so the plan for this weekend focuses on drilling into the Oudam bedrock target.  The full drill is scheduled for Sol 1361, followed by MAHLI and Mastcam images of the new hole.  The rover will… Read More

Sol 1360: Preparing to drill

2 June 2016

Arm work continues to go well, so preparation for drilling and sample analysis is the focus of the Sol 1360 plan.  First, CheMin will dump the Lubango and Okoruso drill samples out of their cells.  Then ChemCam and Mastcam will observe a bright vein named "Charlottenfelder" and a… Read More