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11 August 2017
Sol 1782 Blog: Touch and go, two days in a row!
Yesterday’s drive brought us 6 meters higher in elevation, so another touch and go for today it is! We’ll analyze the Murray target ‘Thorne’ with APXS and MAHLI, followed by a short ChemCam observation on the same target.
10 August 2017
Sol 1781 Blog: Dusting off the wheels and hitting the road!
We’re finally ready to dust off the wheels and get back to driving towards Vera Rubin Ridge. Today was a pretty smooth day of planning, as we’re still getting back into the swing of things.
9 August 2017
Sol 1780: Five (Earth) Years on Mars
Curiosity’s Navcam will image for clouds (like the clouds in the above image from Sol 1758), scan for dust devils across the crater basin, and measure the LOS extinction of dust towards the crater rim.
6 August 2017
Sol 1777: Easing back into mission planning
As Mars comes out from behind the Sun, scientists are easing back into operations planning for the Curiosity rover.
17 July 2017
Sol 1756: Closing time
July 13 marked the last chance for us to reliably command Curiosity before she, and Mars, disappear behind the Sun for about three weeks.
16 July 2017
Sol 1755: Getting Ready to Disappear Behind the Sun
Planetary scientists take their vacations when the planets align. In our case it is because communications with Mars are blacked out when the red planet goes behind the sun. It is called a solar conjunction. Afterwards, Mars will re-appear in our terrestrial skies early in the morning, just before sunrise. As the Earth chases the Red Planet, Mars will rise earlier until at opposition, when the Earth passes Mars a …
12 July 2017
Sol 1754: Science flowing through our veins
Today on Mars we planned a typical ‘drive sol‘ that involved a bit of pre-drive science followed by a drive and some post-drive untargeted observations.
11 July 2017
Sol 1753: Wishful Thinking
The Curiosity Rover activities planned for Sol 1753 revolve around a quick ‘touch-and-go’ chemistry measurement using the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument on Curiosity’s arm.
10 July 2017
Sol 1752 Blog: Sand in Curiosity’s rear-view
Following a jam-packed weekend of contact and remote science on some beautiful sand deposits, the GEO group opted for mostly remote observations in today’s plan.
8 July 2017
Sol 1748-1752: Kicking Up Some Sand
Curiosity has intentionally scuffed a nearby sand ripple, which has gifted the team with an exceptional view of the interior of these small sand deposits.
