9 May 2017
Sol 1691: Stopped Short at Green Nubble
The weekend drive stopped a little bit short of the target, but that’s ok because it put the Curiosity rover in reach of some interesting cross-bedded rocks. We decided to do a “touch and go” plan for Sol 1691, quickly analyzing the rocks in front of us and then continuing on to the original drive destination.
8 May 2017
Sol 1688 – 1690: Sand between our grousers
We’ve been getting some really interesting data down from our investigation of a large sand drift (megaripple), so we packed in many more observations to assess the full variability of the sandy materials before driving away and continuing our climb up Mt. Sharp.
6 May 2017
Sol 1687: Mega-science at a megaripple!
The Curiosity rover planners executed another great drive to park us in front of a megaripple in order to study its physical and chemical characteristics, which we can compare and contrast to the sands we investigated during our recent Bagnold dune campaign.
3 May 2017
Sol 1686: March to the Megaripples
Continuing the steady march up Mt. Sharp, Curiosity drove 18.3 m to bring us closer to a series of features being called megaripples, which are darker and larger ripples than were seen on the Bagnold Dunes.
2 May 2017
Sol 1685: Touch and Go or Just Go (Again)?
Planning rover science activities is a dynamic process. Unlike yestersol‘s plan, the Geology Theme Group decided to include an APXS and MAHLI “touch-and-go” in the plan, carrying out valuable contact science on the layered Murray bedrock.
1 May 2017
Sol 1684: Touch and Go or Just Go?
Today was a day of tradeoffs. Should Curiosity focus on driving to get to a higher priority target sooner, or conduct contact science at the current location?
30 April 2017
Sol 1681-1683: Kicking the Tires
After a drive of almost 29 meters, we are parked at a site suitable for a busy plan full of contact science on the Murray formation. GEO focused mainly on characterizing nearby flagstone – “Duck Brook Bridge” was like the typical Murray formation that was tan in color, and “Cliffside Bridge” and “Waterfall Bridge” were more coarse-grained and gray.
27 April 2017
Sol 1680: Mesmerized by the Murray Formation
After a 30 meter drive on Sol 1679, we find ourselves near diverse outcrops of the Murray formation. We plan to drive on today across the Murray formation towards Vera Rubin Ridge.
25 April 2017
Sol 1679: Another day of TAG (Touch and Go)
Our drive yestersol went as planned and added another 28.3 meters to Curiosity’s odometer. The science team was pleased to see that more interesting outcrop would be reachable by Curiosity’s arm from our new location, so we decided to plan contact science followed by an afternoon drive in the Sol 1679 plan.
Sol 1678: A smooth planning day
Curiosity drove another 33 meters on Sol 1677, and again is surrounded by rocky outcrops partly covered by dark sand.
