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2 October 2019
Sol 2545: SAM Clean-Up and a Potpourri of Remote Sensing and Environmental Observations
Curiosity is continuing through its list of analysis details that take place after taking a drill sample. Today’s main activity is a SAM gas chromatograph column clean-up. Meanwhile, there is time to take environmental observations and more remote-sensing data.
30 September 2019
Sol 2540-2542: Go, SAM, go!
Curiosity’s late afternoon view: This image was taken by the Front Hazard Avoidance Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 2536 (2019-09-25 00:12:06 UTC). It shows the same view as the image in the sols 2538-2539 blog, just in a very different light!
24 September 2019
Sols 2536-2537: SAM Wet Chemistry Experiment
Searching for organic molecules in rocks on Mars is no easy task. Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument is designed to analyze the chemical composition of gases, which it creates by slowly heating rock samples in an oven.
20 September 2019
Sols 2533-2535: SAM’s Starring Role!
Planning for this past week has centered on analyzing the high potassium drill sample, Glen Etive 2, using the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument.
19 September 2019
Sol 2531 – 2532: Three Portions to Inlet 1 and Straight on till SAM
In Monday’s plan, we did portion drop tests of our ‘Glen Etive 2’ drill sample, and this morning we were greeted with nice images of the sample piles.
16 September 2019
Sols 2525-2528: Go for Drilling at Glen Etive 2!
After studying the results from the ‘Glen Etive 1’ drill hole over conjunction, the team has decided to proceed with a second drill hole at a nearby location, dubbed ‘Glen Etive 2,’ (see above image) on the same rock slab. This second drill will allow us to do a more detailed set of SAM and CheMin analyses to better understand the composition of this rock.
11 September 2019
Sol 2524: The Tail(ings)-end of the Glen Etive 1 Drilling Campaign
The focus of Curiosity’s activities since returning to operations after conjunction, now that Mars has safely moved out from behind the sun, is to finish up the analyses associated with the drilling campaign at ‘Glen Etive 1.’
10 September 2019
Sol 2523: Picking Up Where We Left Off
Today is our first planning sol following solar conjunction. For the past few weeks, Mars and Earth have been on opposite sides of the Sun, preventing routine communications with Curiosity. Our rover spent most of the time sleeping, with some routine environmental monitoring with REMS and RAD and occasional Hazcam images like the one shown.
23 August 2019
Sols 2506-2508: Until we meet again
Today was the final opportunity to actively command Curiosity before the Sun comes between us and Mars. Most of the instruments are safely stored for the solar conjunction break, but intrepid Navcam was available for some last-minute science observations.
22 August 2019
Sols 2504-2505: Packing up for our journey behind the Sun
The days leading up to a big trip can be hectic. There are preparations to be made, belongings to be packed, extra work to do in anticipation of being away from the computer. And it’s no different for a robot on the surface of Mars.
20 August 2019
Sol 2502-2503: Science to Exhaustion
Mars is about to be hidden behind the Sun, so Curiosity is rushing to get science done before communications are temporarily lost.
16 August 2019
Sol 2499-2501: More SAMple analysis
Conjunction is the few-week period when Mars goes behind the sun and we stop communicating with our spacecraft that are there. Our last planning day before conjunction will be next Friday, and thinking about that fast approaching day feels very similar to thinking about getting ready to leave for vacation.
14 August 2019
Sols 2497-2498: SAM is GO for analyzing the Glen Etive drill sample
The attached Navcam image shows the view of the Mount Sharp summit from Curiosity’s current location on Mars.
12 August 2019
Sols 2492-2494: Just Another Week on Mars…
It’s the end of another week on Mars, and today we put together a 3 sol weekend plan for Curiosity. Given the RSM-related issues that we incurred this past week, we are still being cautious, but the diagnostic testing that ran in the last plan was successful.
8 August 2019
Sols 2489-2491: A Change in the Weather (Observations)
Over the weekend, Curiosity successfully dropped off a portion of the Glen Etive drill sample. But for some reason, the sequence was interrupted, so no images of the portion were acquired.
5 August 2019
Sol 2488: Success on the 22nd Drill Hole; Happy Landing Day-On to Year 8!
On Sunday morning the team received the message that Curiosity’s latest drill hole was successful at ‘Glen Etive.’ This is the 22nd full-depth drill hole on Mars, and we can celebrate its success on this final day of Earth-year 7 of the mission.
2 August 2019
Sols 2485-2487: Affirm-Etive: We are GO for drilling at Glen Etive 1!
Late during planning yesterday, we got the go ahead to proceed with full drilling at ‘Glen Etive 1.’ We received the results of the APXS and ChemCam compositional analysis of the prospective drill target, as well as the MAHLI imaging of the area both before and after a preload test (see the accompanying image).
1 August 2019
Sol 2484: Preparing to Drill
Today’s science activities were planned with the hopes of drilling our next target this weekend. The scientists on today’s shift were largely interested in characterizing the large block of exposed bedrock in front of the rover to derive as much information as possible before we punch through the surface and expose the rock’s interior.
Sol 2483: Anticipating Drill Hole Number Three (And Maybe Number Four) Within Glen Torridon
Planning today was focused on getting more compositional and textural information on top of this small ridge that we plan to attempt drilling at the weekend.
30 July 2019
Sols 2482-2483: A Drill with a View
The rover is currently located in the southern part of the ‘Visionarium,’ where we are set to start our next drill campaign, and we can’t help but take in the scenery!
