Sols 964-965: Logan’s Run? Or just a short dash…

22 April 2015

Although we had planned a drive of up to 48 m towards “Logan’s Run” on Sol 963, the drive ended early after only 17 m due to the detection of a nearby hazard (a large rock).   This was the first time in a while that we were using autonav for driving.  The good news… Read More

Sol 963: Making a run for it

21 April 2015

After cruising through Artist’s Drive, Curiosity set her sights on the next pass, known as “Logan Pass.” However, the science team realized that there’s an interesting outcrop to west of “Logan Pass,” which may help us to understand how these rocks relate to… Read More

Sol 962: MAHLI wheel imaging

20 April 2015

  The Sol 960 drive went as planned, for a total of over 102 meters!  The rover has driven far enough since the last full set of MAHLI images were acquired that it's time to take another full set to look for more wheel wear.  So my focus today as MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead was on… Read More

Names Approved for Two Mensae on Mars

18 April 2015

The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the names Juventae Mensa and Nia Mensa for two features on Mars. For more information see the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Sol 959-961: Daughter of the Sun

17 April 2015

The short drive on sol 958 was a success, placing us at the top of a small ridge, facing an outcrop dubbed “Daughter of the Sun”. The plan for sol 959 is to do some ChemCam and Mastcam of targets “Gold” and “Espinoza”, followed by several Mastcam mosaics. The… Read More

Sol 958: Officially 10k!

16 April 2015

The Sol 957 drive went well, and the rover has officially driven 10 kilometers! (Last week I announced that we had reached 10k, but that was 10k measured by how many times the wheels have spun, not how far across the surface of Mars the rover has gone. Now, no matter how you measure it, we’ve… Read More

Names Approved for Three Features on Mars

16 April 2015

The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved names for three features on Mars: Badwater crater, Greeley crater, and Syria Colles. For more information, see the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Sol 957: Limited Downlink

15 April 2015

MSL drove about 65 meters on Sol 956, then took some nice images of the path ahead.  As we continue to drive each sol, acquiring images of the terrain around us is important to the science team.  We don't want to miss anything!  So the Sol 957 plan includes ChemCam RMI and… Read More

Names Approved for Two Craters on Titan

15 April 2015

The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved names for two craters on Titan: Forseti and Beag. For more information, see the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Digital image mosaic and topographic map of the moon released

14 April 2015

Digital versions of the Image Mosaic and Topographic Map of the Moon have been released. The USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3316 (SIM3316) highlights both the LROC Team's global WAC mosaic and three of the LOLA Team's digital elevation models. For each map, lunar names (nomenclature) were… Read More