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13 February 2019
Sols 2320-2323: Onwards to Midland Valley
Today was a very busy planning day for the Curiosity operations team. We planned a 3-sol plan, with contact science, imaging, environmental monitoring and a drive.
11 February 2019
Sols 2318-2319: Touring Glen Torridon
Similar to its namesake in Scotland, the Glen Torridon area on Mars affords us stunning vistas, but in our case, of the relatively low-lying clay bearing (from orbit) unit flanked to the north by the higher ground of the Vera Rubin Ridge and to the south, by Mount Sharp.
10 February 2019
Sol 2315-2317: Exploring the New Terrain – One Measurement at a Time
Curiosity is driving across the clay-bearing unit, which is still a very new terrain with many details yet to be understood. The region is covered in little pebbles – and has lots of small sand patches, too, both of which we continue to investigate.
5 February 2019
Sol 2313-2314: Cruising the Clay-bearing Unit
Curiosity is cruising through the clay-bearing unit on some compacted clast-rich soil, seen in this capture from Navcam. It’s some of the best driving terrain we’ve encountered in Gale Crater, with just some occasional sandy patches in the lee of small ridges.
3 February 2019
Sols 2311-2312: Targeting Small Bedrock Patches, Pebbles, and Soil
Marching vertically across the face of the pebble are five laser pits from ChemCam. The bottom of each pit has a telltale whitish appearance.
31 January 2019
Sols 2308-2310: Atop Another (Smaller) Ridge
Curiosity successfully completed her drive yesterday and is currently parked on top of one of the ridges (‘Knockfarril Hill’) in the clay-bearing unit. One of the mysteries of the clay unit is the origin of these ridges – how did they form and what are they made of?
29 January 2019
Sols 2306-2307: Stepping Up to the Edge
In today’s plan, Curiosity is venturing further into the clay unit territory. Prior to departure, we’ll be looking at several targets with Mastcam color and ChemCam to try to characterize the chemistry and texture of this new terrain.
28 January 2019
Sols 2304-2305: In the Clay Unit
Today’s plan found Curiosity solidly in new territory and the view couldn’t be more different than the patchy bedrock of the Vera Rubin Ridge.
27 January 2019
Sols 2301-2303: Looking Forward to the Clay-Bearing Unit
This weekend’s plan started off on Sol 2301 with some Mastcam atmospheric observations, followed by ChemCam analysis of ‘Loch Ness’ and ‘Loch Skeen,’ examples of brown and gray bedrock.
23 January 2019
Sol 2300: Beam me up Scotty!
Curiosity is on the brink of descending down off the Vera Rubin Ridge (VRR) onto the clay-bearing unit. We are hoping to ‘beam up’ lots of interesting new data to the Mars orbiters…
