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28 June 2015
Sols 1027-1029: Resuming tactical operations
Mars has passed through solar conjunction, and reliable communication with the spacecraft at Mars is possible again. As planning started this morning, we were still waiting for more data to be relayed by the orbiters to confirm that MSL is ready to resume science planning, but proceeded with tactical planning so that we would be ready when the data arrived. The Sol 1027 plan starts with Mastcam observations of …
31 May 2015
Sol 1000-1002: Photometry
by Ken Herkenhoff We’re planning 3 sols of MSL activities today, starting with Sol 1000! As we continue to prepare for solar conjunction, arm motion is allowed in this plan, but no contact science. The plan starts with ChemCam and Mastcam observations of a platy rock called “Newland” and a Navcam search for dust devils. Then the first of several Mastcam/Navcam photometry observations is planned. The goal of these …
27 May 2015
Sol 998: Contact Science at Marias Pass
By Lauren Edgar A short bump on Sol 997 put Curiosity in a great position to investigate a few different rock units in Marias Pass, using the instruments on the rover’s arm. The 2.5 m drive brings our total odometry to 10,599 m. With the upcoming solar conjunction (Mars will be on the opposite side of the sun from the Earth, so we can’t communicate with the rover for most …
Sol 997: Preparing for contact science
By Lauren Edgar Curiosity spent the weekend characterizing the terrain and bedrock exposed in Marias Pass. Curiosity drove 33 m further into Marias Pass, bringing our total odometry to 10,596 m. The drive set us up perfectly to investigate the contact between two different types of bedrock – the underlying Pahrump unit and the overlying Stimson unit. Today’s plan is focused on characterizing the contact in this new location, and …
19 May 2015
Sol 987-989: Back at Jocko Butte
by Ryan Anderson The backwards drive on sol 986 was successful, and over the weekend, Curiosity drove back toward “Jocko Butte”. Before the drive on sol 987, ChemCam had a 5×1 observation of the target “Mill”, accompanied by a Mastcam image. Mastcam also took a small 2×2 mosaic of our tracks. The drive back toward Jocko Butte was about 43 m, bringing our total odometry to 10,697 m. After the …
6 April 2015
Sol 948: Good Morning Mars
By Lauren Edgar As we started the planning day before sunrise, I was reminded of the first three months of the mission that we spent living on Mars time. Today is an early “slide sol,” meaning that the planning timeline is shifted 1.5 hours earlier in order to compensate for our downlink and uplink times. Today is also a “tight” planning sol, meaning that the planning timeline is slightly shorter …
28 February 2011
Spectacular Lava Lake Photos
Here’s a little something to keep you occupied while I try to do All The Things this week. The Big Picture has a spectacular series of photos of the world’s largest lava lake in Nyiragongo Crater in Africa. Enjoy!
29 April 2010
MarsSed 2010 Field Trip Day 2: Stromatolites, Gypsum and Layers
We started off Day 2 of the field trip by driving up onto the eroded rocks of what used to be the tidal flats of the ancient reef, between the shore and the continental shelf. The closest modern-day analog to the rocks that we visited is the Persian Gulf, where you have an arid climate and deposition on the shelf and down into the deeper ocean basin. In the tidal …
26 April 2010
MarsSed 2010 Field trip – Day 1: Guadalupe Mountains and Evaporites
Hello everyone, I’m back from the MarsSed 2010 meeting in ElPaso! The meeting was great: it was small and focused on sedimentology and stratigraphy on Mars, with lots of room for discussion. Even better, there were plenty of terrestrial geologists attending, and their comments were extremely helpful for me, and probably many other Martians who lack a geology background. After two and a half days of presentations and discussion (and …
17 April 2010
Off to MarsSed 2010
I’m headed off to El Paso Texas tomorrow! Why? Because that’s where the Mars Sedimentology and Stratigraphy workshop is! I’ll be presenting my work on the Gale Crater landing site for MSL on tuesday and then the second part of the week will be a geology field trip to interesting and instructive locations. I’m really looking forward to it, since the best way to learn geology is to go out …
