6 July 2016
Curiosity Update: Safe Mode
The Curiosity rover activities planned for Sols 1387 and 1388 completed successfully, and lots of good data were returned including a stunning Right Mastcam panorama of the “Murray Buttes” toward the southwest. One of the images in this panorama shows a boulder that appears to be precariously balanced. No, we don’t plan to drive right up next to it, but we’ll probably get closer looks as the rover proceeds toward …
4 July 2016
Sol 1389-1391: Holiday Weekend, Good Luck Juno!
Today we put together a three sol plan to take us through the holiday weekend. On Sol 1389 we do contact science with APXS and MAHLI on the target “Outjo.” SAM also will begin an analysis of some of the “Mojave2” sample that was collected a while ago. Sol 1390 starts off with a long science block. This was originally split into two blocks, but during planning we decided it …
30 June 2016
Sol 1387-1388: Curiosity Rover’s Limited Targeting Data
In the lead up to the long 4th of July weekend, we are planning two sols today and three sols tomorrow. We only had a couple of Navcam images on the ground this morning to help us choose targets, but we still managed to find two targets for ChemCam to analyze on Sol 1387: a rock named “Noordoewer” and a soil named “Savates”. Mastcam will document those targets and take …
29 June 2016
Sol 1386: Curiosity rover studying Trekkopje, checking the wheels
Our drive for the Curiosity rover in the Sol 1385 plan took us 66 meters, continuing our path south between the “Baynes Mountains” and “Helgas Dune.” The plan for Sol 1386 starts off with APXS and MAHLI observations of the target “Trekkopje,” followed by a short science block. Mastcam will start off the block with some atmospheric measurements, then ChemCam will join in the fun and analyze Trekkopje too. Mastcam …
28 June 2016
Sol 1385: Drive Curiosity rover, then drive some more
Not a lot to report today: these one-sol drive plans are pretty simple! (Well, as simple as driving a giant robot on another planet can be…) Yesterday’s Curiosity rover drive took us a little over 60m and we’re planning another drive in the sol 1385 plan. Before the drive, we have a short science block with a ChemCam observation of the target “Epembe” and a Mastcam mosaic of “Baynes Mountain” …
27 June 2016
Sol 1384: Curiosity Rover at Baynes Mountain
Our weekend Curiosity rover soliday plan was successful, putting us about halfway to our next likely drilling location. We are now in “unrestricted” planning again, meaning we will be getting data down overnight and can plan every day this week.
Sol 1382-1383: Curiosity Rover observes Phobos Transit and a “Soliday”
Curiosity rover’s contact science in the Sol 1380-1381 plan went well, so we’re back to driving in the weekend plan! Sol 1382 will start with a Mastcam video of Phobos crossing in front of the sun, plus a multispectral observation of the brushed target “Koes.” ChemCam will then analyze the targets “Koes,” “Kongola,” and “Rundu” and Mastcam will document those observations. After that, we will drop off some of the …
22 June 2016
Sols 1380-1381: Contact Science at “Koes”
The drive on Sol 1378 went well, and Curiosity drove ~44 m to the south, bringing our total drive distance to more than 13.2 km. We’re currently making our way through a gap in the Bagnold dunes (part of a dune is visible in the upper left of the drive direction Navcam frame).
21 June 2016
Sol 1378-1379: Making up for lost distance
Over the weekend, the rover stopped after about 17 meters of the planned 65 meter drive. The rover is fine, the drive just tripped one of the (very conservative) limits on how the rover’s suspension was expected to behave, causing Curiosity to stop and check in with Earth. Since there is nothing jumping out at us as a contact science target where we stopped, in today’s plan we will try to make up for some of the lost distance from the weekend plan.
18 June 2016
Sols 1375-1377: Another busy weekend
The Sol 1373 drive completed successfully, moving the rover over 31 meters toward the south. There’s lots of bedrock exposed around the vehicle, but no flat patches large enough to brush in the arm workspace. So MAHLI will take images of an unbrushed target called “Andara” before the APXS is placed on it for an overnight integration. Before these arm activities on Sol 1375, ChemCam and the Right Mastcam will …
