You are browsing the archive for Mission Update.
3 February 2018
Sol 1954-1956: Groundhog Day Across the Solar System
Planning Curiosity’s activities on February 2nd, 2018, aka sol 1954 – 1956, felt a little bit like Groundhog Day on Mars.
1 February 2018
Sols 1952-1953: Another "touch and go"
Today is my father’s 88th birthday and the 60th anniversary of the launch of the first US satellite, Explorer 1. This reminds me how fortunate his generation is to have witnessed the historic first steps into space…
29 January 2018
Sol 1950-1951: North by northeast
Curiosity is back on Vera Rubin Ridge today after a short diversion into the phyllosilicate unit. Our workspace this morning contained rocks in various shades of red.
28 January 2018
Sol 1947-1949: I love it when a plan comes together
Going in to planning today, there was a concern that we would run up against constraints on power and complexity that might force us to eliminate some of the science we wanted to do. Thankfully, that did not end up being the case and nothing had to be removed!
24 January 2018
Sol 1945-46: Heading back to the main road
Our most recent drive put us near the edge of the Vera Rubin Ridge, overlooking the ‘clay unit’ (the upper portion of this image) that Curiosity will eventually reach, but not yet!
22 January 2018
Sol 1943: From the South Rim of Vera Rubin Ridge
Having spent 1943 sols on the surface of Mars, Curiosity is in its 6th Earth year on Mars, but it is in its 3rd Mars year of exploration. That means Curiosity has encountered this season of the year twice before.
21 January 2018
Sols 1940-1942: Studying a bedrock transition
The Sol 1939 drive went well, placing Curiosity next to the bright/dark transition seen at the right side of this image.
Government Shutdown (2018)
We’re sorry, but we will not be posting updates to this blog during the government shutdown.
18 January 2018
Sols 1938-1939: It’s all about the details
At location ‘e’ we have been focused on understanding small-scale features, like the tiny crystals and veins seen in the above ChemCam RMI image.
16 January 2018
Sol 1937: Taking a closer look…
Today we’re continuing our science activities at the Vera Rubin Ridge (VRR) location ‘e.’ It certainly seems that ‘e’ should stand for ‘exciting,’ as we’ve collected quite a rich set of observations at this location…
