http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/news News about current and upcoming space missions, USGS gelogic products and historical exhibits en-us Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700 The rover is approaching the last stop before hitting the road, an outcrop dubbed Shaler. We noticed the Shaler outcrop on our way into "Yellowknife Bay" but did not get close enough to study it in detail. So we plan study Shaler in detail before starting the traverse toward Mt. Sharp (Aeolis Mons).

]]> Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700 Images of the rover wheels showed no evidence of slippage, so the Sol 304 plan included higher-resolution MAHLI images and APXS integration overnight into Sol 305. I'm now MAHLI uplink lead, so was busy planning MAHLI images on 4 different targets. The weekend plan (Sols 305-307) is to finish up at Point Lake then drive away. No more arm activities are planned at Point Lake, so it's looking like I won't have any MAHLI work to do today.

]]> Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700 The approach to Point Lake on Sol 302 went well, allowing the arm to reach the outcrop of interest. However, the rover is tilted over 9 degrees, so we have to wait a sol to confirm that it is stable before planning contact science. Therefore, we could place MAHLI no closer than 10 cm from the outcrop, but such images will still be very useful. So we planned a MAHLI mosaic and individual images of various targets on Point Lake, and hope to receive most of them in time for Sol 304 planning. We can then use them to select targets for higher-resolution MAHLI images and APXS measurements, assuming the rover has not slipped. We also planned a Mastcam mosaic and ChemCam observations of the outcrop.

]]> Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700 I'm SOWG Chair again today, planning Sol 302. The Sol 301 drive went well, and we received images after the drive was complete showing the Point Lake outcrop. Unfortunately, they showed that the slopes near the most interesting part of the outcrop are large enough that we would have to spend an additional sol checking to be sure that the rover did not slip in that location before deploying the arm. The science team discussed the options and decided that the major goals of the Point Lake campaign could be achieved at a different part of the outcrop, where the rover could approach on more level ground. So the Sol 302 plan includes a short drive to this location, along with lots of imaging before and after the drive. If all goes well, we will be able to deploy the arm on Sol 303 and take close-up images with MAHLI and measure the rock's chemistry with APXS. ChemCam observations will help us decide where to target the arm work.

]]> Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700 The MSL activities planned for last weekend went well, except for a ChemCam instrument problem on Sol 300. Fortunately, it's not serious and the Sol 301 plan includes ChemCam recovery sequences. If they go well we will be able to use ChemCam again on Sol 302. The Sol 301 plan includes another drive toward the "Point Lake" outcrop with more DAN (neutron spectrometer) active observations along the way.

]]> Wed, 05 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700 The NASA/USGS PDS Imaging Node has added the following data to the Unified Planetary Coordinate (UPC) Database.
MISSION / INSTRUMENT: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter /CTX

Mapped: 1,908 Unmapped: 0 Total: 1,908
The strat times for this release are: 2012-09-01 thru 2012-12-02.

Please visit PILOT to access/download the new release.

]]> Fri, 31 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700 I'm not on shift in any tactical operations roles, but have been helping finish up important observations in the "Cumberland" area before we drive away next week. In particular, I have been leading the effort to take MAHLI images of the drill hole walls at night, using the LEDs to illuminate the hole. We are hoping, based on previous nighttime MAHLI images, that this will provide better views of the walls of the drill hole. This activity is currently included in the 3-sol plan that will get the rover through the weekend.

]]> Wed, 29 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700 Yesterday I was Geology/Mineralogy Science Theme Lead for the first time in months, so I was a bit rusty. We tried to fit some MAHLI imaging into the plan, along with overnight CheMin analysis of the Cumberland drill sample, but didn't have enough power. However, we were able to plan a high-priority ChemCam observation of the drill tailings during the day (when warm) and early the next morning (when cold), to look for changes in hydrogen due to daily absorption/desorption of water vapor. The early morning ChemCam observation required pointing the instrument at the target the previous evening, to avoid having to heat and move the remote sensing mast at night.

]]> Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700 I was MAHLI uplink lead again for Sol 282, and helped plan images of the SAM and CheMin sample inlets to verify that samples were delivered properly. The plan also included sample dropoff to CheMin and overnight analysis. It's nice to see that the updates to the MAHLI "self portrait" of the rover that I helped plan on Sol 270 have been incorporated

]]> Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700 The drilling at "Cumberland" went perfectly. The MAHLI images that we planned for Sol 279 came out well. So the plan for Sol 281 includes sieving of the sample and feeding some of it to SAM. This will happen late in the afternoon, when winds are expected to be low, to avoid loosing some of the sample during dropoff to SAM. SAM will then start analyzing the sample overnight.

]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700 I was MAHLI uplink lead today, planning 3 sols to get us through the weekend. It was a busy day--lots of MAHLI images were planned, both before and after drilling the Cumberland target. A SAM measurement of the atmosphere and SAM "preconditioning" in anticipation of the second drill sample analysis were also plan, so there wasn't much room for other observations. If all goes well, the sample will be analyzed next week.

]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700 Because the critical data from yesterday's plan won't be received until around noon Pacific time, MSL tactical planning starts later than usual today. Even though the MSL project made the transition to "Earth time" planning months ago, the schedule is still allowed to shift a few hours when necessary. Meanwhile, Opportunity, on the other side of Mars, sent data in the middle of the night and will receive commands in the afternoon Pacific time. So Opportunity planning is starting earlier than usual (7 AM PDT yesterday). I'm MAHLI uplink lead for MSL again today, but wanted to call in to the Opportunity kickoff meeting this morning to hear the latest. I was rewarded with the news that Opportunity now holds second place among extraterrestrial rovers for total distance traversed, just passing the Apollo 17 lunar rover's record of 35.74 km. First place is still held by the Russian Lunokhod 2 rover, which drove 37 km on the lunar surface. It may be a long work day for me, but operating 2 rovers on Mars is, as they say, "a nice problem to have."

]]> Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700 It's good to see that the activities we planned over the weekend went well--the rover is now in position to drill the target "Cumberland." I'm MAHLI payload uplink lead for Sol 275, and helped plan MAHLI images of the potential drill target. These images are intended to confirm that the target is suitable for drilling.

]]> Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700 Today we planned 3 sols (271-273) in one day for the first time on MSL. I was nervous about leading the science team as SOWG Chair through this challenging planning day, but it went smoothly. In fact, planning Sol 270 yesterday was more hectic, in part because of the variety of activities we squeezed into the plan, including hundreds of MAHLI images and lots of arm motion. There were a number of high-priority science observations we wanted to accomplish before driving away from the first drill hole, and lots of pressure to fit them into the Sol 270 plan so that we can move on to the next drill target, called Cumberland. The Sol 272 plan includes a bump (short drive) designed to move the rover within 1 meter of "Cumberland" and all the imaging needed to plan another bump that will position the rover for drilling.

]]> Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700 I was SOWG Chair today for the first time since the conjunction stand-down. A new version of flight software has been installed on the rover, and many of the Sol 269 activities focused on acquiring images needed to evaluate the precision of camera pointing on the "B" computer running the new software. We also planned Mastcam observations of nearby targets of interest. All is going well, but there is still more analysis to be done before the full capabilities of the rover can be used.

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