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21 November 2017
Sols 1882 – 1888: Science-Filled Thanksgiving Holiday
This week we put together two extra-large helpings of science to get Curiosity through the Thanksgiving holiday.
19 November 2017
Sols 1879-1881: Stay frosty!
We’re only a few sols from southern winter solstice in Gale Crater on Mars, which means it’s pretty much the coldest time of year and the best time for Curiosity to try to see water frost on the surface.
15 November 2017
Sol 1877 – 1878: The Last Drive Before Thanksgiving
The science team has a lot of activities we’d like to do that require Curiosity to stay in a single location for several days, so the Earth days that the ops team has off for Thanksgiving will be a perfect time for the rover to get some really good science done without needing input from the ground.
Sol 1875-1876: Sitting on the Boundary
What makes this day a bit different than other days is that Curiosity is sitting right on the boundary between two geologic units observed from orbit.
12 November 2017
Sols 1872-1875: A Fashionably Late Data Downlink
Because the alignment of a Mars sol versus an Earth day is constantly changing, we sometimes start our planning day a couple hours earlier or later than normal.
7 November 2017
Sol 1870-1871: Back in the groove
Above is a Navcam image of Curiosity’s location after a successful drive on Sol 1869. The shadows show the Robotic Arm (RA) and turret on the left, and the Remote Sensing Mast (RSM) to the lower right. I can’t help but think that Curiosity is giving us a ‘high-five’ for another stellar drive!
6 November 2017
Sols 1868-1869: Hello gorgeous
It was a good weekend on Mars. Curiosity spent the weekend exploring a beautiful outcrop of sedimentary rocks (shown in the above image) as part of our continued investigation of the middle and upper parts of Vera Rubin Ridge.
5 November 2017
Sol 1865: Back in the saddle again
Curiosity successfully got a move on from her inadvertent layover stop, which presented the science team with a new workspace, and a new view of the structures exposed in the ‘Vera Rubin Ridge.’
1 November 2017
Sol 1863: Planning to Drive Again
Curiosity will finally be back on the move. The rover made an unexpected stop of nearly two weeks in the current location due to several things ranging from failed uplinks to insufficient arm heating and a camera glitch.
30 October 2017
Sol 1861-1862: The Curse of Vera Rubin Ridge Strikes Again
We are starting to suspect that Vera Rubin Ridge might be cursed. After the challenges Curiosity faced last week, we were hoping for a successful weekend plan but alas, it was not to be.
