Sols 1412-1413: No touch, just Go!

25 July 2016

MSL is making good progress, driving almost 68 meters last weekend.  We had the option of taking some MAHLI images on Sol 1412, but decided to maximize the drive distance instead.  Before the drive, ChemCam and Mastcam will observe bedrock targets "Jamba" and "Huambo" and the Right… Read More

Sols 1409-1411: Finishing up at Bimbe

22 July 2016

For the weekend plan, we have a bunch more observations of the interesting blocky deposit “Bimbe”. Sol 1409 starts off with a couple of Mastcam images: one of the target “Seeis” and another of the AEGIS target from Sol 1406. Mastcam also has a mosaic to provide more context… Read More

Sol 1405-1408: Bimbe Conglomerates

20 July 2016

After a busy weekend plan, we are back to “restricted” sols this week, planning two days at a time. Monday’s planning for sols 1405-1406 started off with a discussion of whether we wanted to do some brief contact science before driving, or just drive straight for the block deposit… Read More

Sols 1402-1404: A juicy weekend plan

15 July 2016

It was a slow morning as we anxiously awaited our downlink at 11am this morning… and then we put together a hefty weekend plan.  We’re in late slide sols this week, so planning has been starting later to wait for critical images to come down.  I’m on duty as GSTL today,… Read More

Sol 1401: Analysis of blocky deposits

14 July 2016

The drive on Sol 1400 went well, and Curiosity drove ~13 m along the edge of the blocky deposit “Bimbe.”  Today’s plan involves a number of ChemCam and Mastcam observations to assess the composition and textural properties of three large blocks in the deposit. … Read More

Theme on Mars Expanded

14 July 2016

The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the expansion of the theme for "other features" on Mars to include using the name of a nearby crater, if no nearby albedo feature name is available. Theme expansion was necessary because in some areas of Mars all available albedo… Read More

Context Camera (CTX) Image Mosaics for Mars Human Exploration Zones

14 July 2016

We have created 39 regional semi-controlled CTX mosaics at 5m/pixel for the 2015 proposed Mars Human Exploration zones. They are individually available for download in GeoTiff format. Cosmetically, mosaics will have hard edges between images due to seasonal, time, and calibration differences.… Read More

Sol 1400: Approaching the “Bimbe” blocky deposit

13 July 2016

On Sol 1399, Curiosity drove ~32 m closer to a blocky deposit known as “Bimbe.”  We’ve identified several notable blocky deposits in orbital images, and this will be our last chance to fully investigate one of these deposits on the ground to try to determine their… Read More

Sol 1399: On the road again

12 July 2016

We’re back in our familiar drive pattern, with a short science block followed by a drive.  In today’s pre-drive science block, ChemCam and Mastcam will be used to study the target “Arandis” to document the chemistry of the local bedrock.  Then we’ll acquire… Read More

Sol 1398: Back in action

11 July 2016

After standing down from science operations for a few sols to resolve the safe mode anomaly, it’s great to be on the move again today.  The Sol 1398 plan begins with a short science block, which includes ChemCam and Mastcam observations of the target “Luanda” to assess the… Read More