Sols 1313-1315: Full MAHLI wheel imaging
15 April 2016Tactical planning was a bit hectic today as we reacted to yesterday's change in the near-term science goals, but the team quickly determined what is feasible and put together a good plan. There are no good brushable targets in the arm workspace, so the DRT will not be used. Rather,… Read More
Sol 1312: The best laid plans…
14 April 2016The original plan for today included an ~11 m drive to get closure to a fracture in the Stimson formation. However, during science discussion, the team talked further about how to best sample both altered and unaltered Stimson bedrock, and realized that some of the best places to accomplish… Read More
Sol 1311: Take Me To Fracture Town
13 April 2016Today I was on duty as KOP again, but we got to sleep in: we started at 7 am instead of 6:30! Curiosity is in good shape and our drive was successful. In the Sol 1311 plan, we have ChemCam observations of the targets “Garnet Koppie”, “Amspoort”, “Soutrivier”,… Read More
Sol 1310: Good morning Mars!
12 April 2016Well, that was an early morning! I was on duty as the KOP today and we started at 6:30 am, so I was up and looking at new pictures of Mars before sunrise. Normally I would not be happy about getting up so early, but I reminded myself this morning that getting to help run a nuclear-powered… Read More
Sol 1309: Can't Catch a Break
11 April 2016We just can’t catch a break lately! Curiosity is healthy but unfortunately the plan for the weekend was not transmitted to Mars due to a Deep Space Network outage. That means that the contact science that was planned for the weekend is lost, but the team decided that it was not important… Read More
Sols 1307-1308: Deja vu all over again
8 April 2016On Sol 1305, the rover straightened its wheels in preparation for a drive, but then the fault that prevented driving earlier this week occurred again, and the vehicle did not move. The engineers are preparing to send parameter changes that will eliminate mobility actuator sensitivity to… Read More
Sols 1305-1306: Deja vu
6 April 2016Once again, the Sol 1303 drive stopped during wheel steering, apparently due to another short in the RTG. While the power and mobility engineers investigate the fault and ways to respond to them, another drive will be attempted on Sol 1305. The remote science observations made on… Read More
PILOT / UPC Data Release March 2016: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - CTX
29 March 2016The NASA/USGS PDS Imaging Node has added the following data to the Unified Planetary Coordinate (UPC) Database. MISSION / INSTRUMENT: MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER / CTX Release #36. Mapped Image: 914. Unmapped Images: 1. Please visit PILOT to access/download the new release.
PILOT / UPC Data Release March 2016: Mars Odyssey - THEMIS VIS
31 March 2016The NASA/USGS PDS Imaging Node has reprocessed the following data in the Unified Planetary Coordinate (UPC) Database. This was necessary because of a change in the archive path structure.MISSION / INSTRUMENT: Mars Odyssey / THEMIS VIS DATA RELEASES: 1- 53Mapped: 62,723 Unmapped:… Read More
Sols 1303-1304: Driving Again
4 April 2016The Sol 1301 drive halted after only 4.5 meters of progress, apparently due to a short in the RTG that caused a steering actuator fault. This type of fault has occurred before, so we are planning a drive toward the northwest on Sol 1303. Before the drive, lots of remote sensing… Read More
