Sols 1614-1616: Delayed planning

17 February 2017

The Sol 1612 drive went well, and there is a nice bedrock block in the arm workspace.  We received a bit more data than expected before planning started, but not enough to finalize drive plans and contact science targets.  As expected, we received more data during planning, including… Read More

Sols 1612-1613: Planning challenges

16 February 2017

After a 23-meter drive on Sol 1611, MSL again ended up in an area with many bedrock blocks partly covered by dark sand.  We're planning two sols today to get a head start on planning for the holiday weekend, with the first sol strategically planned to allow the "touch and go"… Read More

Downtime for Astrogeology Web Services 2/17-2/20

19 February 2017

All the web services for the USGS Astrogeology Science Center will experience downtime over the weekend for machine room maintenance.  Potential downtime will be from Friday night (2/17) until Monday night (2/20).Affected sites include:… Read More

Sol 1611: Patch Mountain

15 February 2017

MSL drove almost 27 meters on Sol 1610 to a location with several potential targets, so the planning team spent some time discussing priorities.  A dark patch of bedrock, appropriately named "Patch Mountain" was chosen for ChemCam, Right Mastcam, and MAHLI observations.  The MAHLI… Read More

Sol 1610: Finishing up at Ireson Hill

14 February 2017

The activities planned for Sol 1609 went well, and MAHLI focus data indicate that high-resolution images of Perry were successfully acquired.  So we're ready to drive away from Ireson Hill after some more remote sensing of the rocks in front of the rover.  The Sol 1610 plan starts… Read More

Sol 1609: Passagassawakeag and other challenges

13 February 2017

MSL drove a little over 9 meters on Sol 1608, to get the vehicle closer to Ireson Hill and the dark blocks that have rolled down from the top of the hill.  Two of these blocks are within reach of the arm, but both are challenging targets.  Even the name chosen for the dark block at… Read More

Sols 1606-1608: Studying Ireson Hill

10 February 2017

Our drive on Sol 1605 was successful, putting us in a good position for weekend science on the northeast side of Ireson Hill. The sol 1606 plan starts off with ChemCam observations of “Quimby,” which appears to be a piece of cap rock that has tumbled down from the top of the hill, and a… Read More

Sol 1604-1605: Toward Ireson Hill

10 February 2017

On Sol 1604 we wrapped up at the first stop of this second phase of the Bagnold Dune campaign. The plan started off, as usual for the dune campaign, with a pair of Mastcam images that were then repeated throughout the day to look for changes. ChemCam had an RMI of the target “Mapleton”… Read More

Sol 1603: Finishing at Stop 1

9 February 2017

Yesterday’s plan went well, and ChemCam has run all of the planned diagnostics and will be back in action tomorrow! Similar to yestersol’s plan, the Sol 1603 plan begins with a pair of Mastcam observations which will be repeated throughout the day to look for any changes in the nearby… Read More

Sol 1602: Bagnold Dunes 2: Electric Boogaloo

7 February 2017

The weekend plan went well and today we begin the second half of the campaign to study the “Bagnold Dunes”. The Sol 1602 plan starts off with two Mastcam mosaics of the dunes which will be repeated several times later in the sol to watch for changes. Navcam also has a dust devil… Read More