Sol 350 Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Multiprocessing
1 August 2013The latest drive covered over 80 meters, and we are planning another drive on the second sol of the 3-sol weekend plan. In addition, more of the Cumberland drill sample will be dropped into SAM on the first sol, for analysis overnight. This is the first time arm activities and a drive have been… Read More
Sol 346 - 348: Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: A Bit Hazy
26 July 2013The Sol 345 drive went well, totaling 60 meters. We've received some nice (although a bit hazy) images of the traverse goal at the base of Aeolis Mons. We still have a long way to go, but are making good progress. I'm MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead again, planning 3 sols to get the rover through the… Read More
Sol 345: Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Steady Progress
25 July 2013We were happy to see that the long drive planned for last weekend went well, but don't expect to drive so far every sol until more software capabilities are checked out and cleared for use. I'm MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead today, planning single images after each drive that are becoming standard… Read More
Sol 339: Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Visual Odometry
19 July 2013I'm SOWG Chair again, planning three sols to get the rover through the weekend. This typically means a long Friday shift, and today is no exception. The 3-sol plan is complex, with lots of science observations and a 100-meter drive. The use of visual odometry (VO) was approved, so this… Read More
Sol 338: Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Juggling Priorities
18 July 2013I've been SOWG Chair for the last three days of this week, planning drives every sol. We continue to experiment with various types of observations during and after the drive, to see which give us the most information for the time and data volume required. The team has been discussing the… Read More
Sol 336 Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: One Kilometer!
16 July 2013MSL passed one kilometer total drive odometry during the Sol 335 drive! Hopefully the two kilometer mark will be passed much more quickly, as we are halfway through the nominal mission of one Mars year (669 sols). Like yesterday, I'm MAHLI/MARDI payload uplink lead today, planning images that we… Read More
Sol 335 Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Limited Visibilty
15 July 2013The first few drives toward Mt. Sharp have been limited in length because some of the mobility software has not yet been checked out on the B computer. There are separate Hazcam and Navcam stereo pairs connected to each side of the computer, and the B Navcams behave a bit differently than the A… Read More
Update on HI-SEAS from USGS Scientist Oleg Abramov: Thermal Imaging
9 July 2013One of my research goals at HI-SEAS is to take spherical panoramas of various parts of the hab in thermal infrared (or what one of my friends calls “Predator vision”) at various parts of the day. This would map out the major heat sources and sinks, as well as result in an understanding… Read More
Sol 329 Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Twilight Wins
8 July 2013I'm MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead today, planning Sol 329, which includes another drive toward Aeolis Mons ("Mt. Sharp"). We are planning MAHLI and MARDI images after the drive, to document the terrain in the new location. On Sol 318, we took MARDI images at various times of day to determine when to… Read More
Sol 326 Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Road Trip
5 July 2013We have started the long traverse to the base of Mt. Sharp (Aeolis Mons), the long-term goal of the mission! It may take a year to get there, depending on how many interesting features we find along the way. The challenge for the science team will be to identify the most important targets along… Read More
