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

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

Curiosity Update: Safe Mode

6 July 2016

The activities planned for Sols 1387 and 1388 completed successfully, and lots of good data were returned including a stunning Right Mastcam panorama of the "Murray Buttes" toward the southwest.  One of the images in this panorama shows a boulder that appears to be precariously balanced. … Read More

Sol 1389-1391: Holiday Weekend, Good Luck Juno!

1 July 2016

Today we put together a three sol plan to take us through the holiday weekend. On Sol 1389 we do contact science with APXS and MAHLI on the target “Outjo”. SAM also will begin an analysis of some of the “Mojave2” sample that was collected a while ago.  Sol 1390 starts… Read More

Sol 1387-1388: Limited Targeting Data

30 June 2016

In the lead up to the long 4th of July weekend, we are planning two sols today and three sols tomorrow. We only had a couple of Navcam images on the ground this morning to help us choose targets, but we still managed to find two targets for ChemCam to analyze on Sol 1387: a rock named… Read More

Sol 1386: Studying Trekkopje, checking the wheels

29 June 2016

 Our drive in the Sol 1385 plan took us 66 meters, continuing our path south between the “Baynes Mountains” and “Helgas Dune". The plan for Sol 1386 starts off with APXS and MAHLI observations of the target “Trekkopje”, followed by a short science block. Mastcam… Read More