Third Planetary Data Workshop and Geologic Mappers Meeting
9 November 2016Conference Date: June 12–15, 2017 Venue: High Country Conference Center, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, ArizonaThis worskhop will cover a wide variety of planetary data topics, including current mission data availability and tools, online data access tools… Read More
Sols 1514-1515: Touch and Go at Southwest Harbor
7 November 2016Our weekend plan was successful, with lots of good observations and a 43 meter drive. Today’s 2-sol plan starts out with a brief contact science block, during which MAHLI will observe the target “Southwest Harbor”. After that, we have a remote sensing block. ChemCam will observe… Read More
Sols 1511-1513: Brushing Penobscot
4 November 2016After driving over 40 meters on Sol 1509, MSL is ready for the 3-sol weekend plan. There are a couple of good-sized outcrops in the arm workspace, so we're planning contact science on Sol 1511. But first, Navcam will look for clouds and ChemCam will observe bedrock targets named… Read More
Sols 1509-1510: No contact science
2 November 2016MSL drove another 44 meters on Sol 1508, ending up in an area that again is partly covered by dark sand. There aren't any very compelling targets within the arm workspace, so we decided again to forgo contact science, and focused instead on remote observations. Planning is… Read More
Sol 1508: A sandy spot
1 November 2016MSL drove almost 30 meters on Sol 1507, into an area with more dark sand than we have been seeing recently. Because only a few rocks are exposed in the arm workspace, the tactical team decided against contact science in favor of maximizing the drive distance on Sol 1508. The view… Read More
Sol 1507: What’s lurking in Blackwoods and Witch Hole Pond?
31 October 2016Happy Halloween from Mars! Over the weekend Curiosity drove 51 m further to the south, and we continue to investigate the Murray formation. I was the GSTL and KOP today (what a treat!) and we had a busy morning trying to decide whether or not to do contact science or more remote sensing.… Read More
Sols 1504-1506: A "Wonderland" of Interesting Targets
28 October 2016It’s Friday, so that means we have another busy weekend plan! Our 37 meter drive yesterday brought us to a very interesting location with lots of targets to choose from in front of the rover. The weekend plan starts off on Sol 1504 with ChemCam and Mastcam observations of the veins… Read More
Sol 1503: Simple Plan
28 October 2016Everything went well in yesterday’s plan, with our drive taking us 25 meters farther along our “Mt. Sharp Ascent Route.” We started the day with some challenges caused by connectivity issues with team members outside of the US, particularly the ChemCam team. They were able to get… Read More
Name Approved for Feature on Mars: Krupac
28 October 2016The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the name Krupac for a crater on Mars. For more information, see the map for MC-21 in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
Sol 1502: Short Drive
26 October 2016Yesterday’s 46 meter drive went well, and the plan for Sol 1502 is to have another pretty typical remote sensing and driving sol. The Sol 1502 plan starts out with ChemCam observations of the bedrock target “St. Saveur” and an interesting transition between light-toned and… Read More
