Names Approved for 13 Features on Ceres
3 October 2015The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved names for Ahuna Mons, Samhain Catena, and 11 craters on Ceres. For more information, see the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
Names Approved for 12 Features on Mercury
3 October 2015The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved names for 12 craters on Mercury. For more information, see the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
Sols 1123-1125: Drill hole and tailings
2 October 2015The weekend plan includes lots of arm activities and science. First, on Sol 1123, ChemCam and Mastcam will observe the drill hole and tailings, plus targets named "Frontier," "Floweree," "Bozeman," and "Billings." Then the portion of the sample that has not been sieved will be… Read More
Sol 1121-1122: Successful Drill at Big Sky
30 September 2015Success! Our drill at “Big Sky” went perfectly! On Sol 1121, the rover will transfer some of the powder from Big Sky to CheMin so that it can begin analyzing the mineralogy of the sample. Also on Sol 1121, ChemCam has an observation of the target “Minnekahta”. Mastcam will… Read More
Sol 1119-1120: "Go" for full drill at Big Sky!
28 September 2015As you can see, our mini-drill over the weekend went well, so we are GO for drilling “Big Sky” on sol 1119! The hope is that this location will provide a good sample of the “typical” rock in the area to compare with some of the interesting alteration we’ve been seeing.… Read More
Sols 1116-1118: Small drill, Big Sky
25 September 2015It’s time to drill again! After much deliberation, we have decided to try drilling the target “Big Sky” at our current location, in hopes of getting a good sample of relatively unaltered bedrock to compare with some of the altered rocks we have seen nearby. Sol 1116 is dedicated… Read More
Sols 1114-1115: Contact science on Big Sky
23 September 2015The 14-meter Sol 1112 drive completed as planned, and the rover is in a good position for contact science. There are flat areas in front of the rover that are suitable for drilling, so the Sol 1114 plan includes DRT brushing, MAHLI imaging, and APXS measurements of a target named… Read More
Names Approved for 15 Features on Ceres
23 September 2015The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved names for 15 features on Ceres, including 14 craters and Ysolo Mons. For more information, see the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
Sol 1112-1113: Rough Driving
21 September 2015The drive on Sol 1111 stopped early after just over 15 meters because we were driving over rough terrain and part of the rover’s suspension exceeded the allowed amount of tilt (this is not a physical limit, just a threshold in the software that tells the rover to stop and check with Earth to… Read More
Sols 1109-1111: Contact Science on Bright Outcrop
18 September 2015The plan for the weekend is to do a detailed analysis of the outcrop in front of us and then drive away and do some untargeted observations. Sol 1109 includes ChemCam observations of the targets "Cody" and "Leroy", plus a Navcam dust devil search. After that, the rover will brush the dust off… Read More
