Sols 1080-1081: Official New Selfie!
19 August 2015We had another successful drive on 1079, going about 29 meters this time. The plan for sols 1080-1081 is pretty similar to the previous plan: remote sensing and a drive on the first day, and untargeted science on the second day. On sol 1080, ChemCam has observations of the targets “Red… Read More
Sols 1078-1079: Back to restricted planning
17 August 2015I had an easy planning day as MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead today, because another drive is planned for Sol 1078 with only the usual post-drive MAHLI (stowed) and MARDI (twilight) imaging. Planning is restricted again (Mars and Earth time are out of sync), so we are planning two sols. … Read More
Sols 1075-1077: Time for SAM!
14 August 2015We had another successful drive on sol 1074, putting us in a good position for the weekend! The main activity for the weekend is using the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument to analyze some of the recent drill sample that we collected. SAM activities will take up all of sol 1075. On sol 1076,… Read More
Name Approved for a crater on Mars: Auki
14 August 2015The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the name Auki for a crater on Mars. For more information, see the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
Sol 1074: Crazy Mountain
13 August 2015The 47 meter drive on sol 1073 went exactly as expected, putting us in a good position for the sol 1074 plan. It’s a pretty simple plan today, with time for a single ChemCam observation of a target called “Crazy Mountain”. I got to pick the name for this target (one of my favorite… Read More
Sol 1073: Drive-Thru Geology
12 August 2015The drive on sol 1072 was successful, with a total distance travelled of about 35 meters. For sol 1073, Mastcam will be very busy taking pictures to document the geology in our new location. We are planning a 31x1 mosaic of the outcrop in Marias Pass, plus a 13x3 mosaic of “Mt. Shields”… Read More
Sols 1071-1072: What we've got here is a failure to communicate
11 August 2015Unfortunately over the weekend there was an outage at the Deep Space Network, which prevented the plan for the weekend from being sent to Curiosity. So, instead of a busy weekend, Curiosity was in “runout” mode, making routine environmental monitoring measurements and waiting patiently… Read More
Sols 1068-1070: Back at Missoula
7 August 2015Curiosity had a successful drive of 19 m on Sol 1067, and we are currently back at Missoula for more targeted science. The goal is to perform a detailed study of the Stimson-Pahrump contact, and to determine the relative timing of some of the veins that we’ve observed here. The… Read More
Names Approved for Three Features on Mars: Hellas Chasma, Peneus Palus and Coronae Planum
7 August 2015The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved names for three features on Mars: Hellas Chasma, Peneus Palus, and Coronae Planum. For more information, see the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
Sol 1067: Bumping to Missoula… sound familiar?
6 August 2015With a familiar blog title, I report that in today’s plan we’re bumping towards the Missoula outcrop. On Sol 1066 Curiosity drove ~ 25 m back toward Missoula, but we still have a little further to go. However, the science team took advantage of our current position to… Read More
