23 November 2015
Sol 1173: Dune monitoring
Over the weekend, Curiosity drove 51 m closer to the Bagnold Dunes. I’m on duty as the Geology Science Theme Lead, and today we’re planning Sol 1173, which includes a short science block, a drive, post-drive imaging, and some untargeted science in the afternoon. The main focus of today’s plan is to monitor the dunes and document the bedrock along the way. We’ll start with several Mastcam observations to monitor …
21 November 2015
Sols 1170-1172: Studying bedrock, sand, and sky
This week Curiosity has been driving towards the Bagnold Dunes and characterizing the bedrock and sand along the way. After a successful SAM methane experiment and 36.5 m drive on Sol 1168, Curiosity spent Sol 1169 recharging and assessing some of the local bedrock and dunes. The weekend 3-sol plan starts with a number of environmental monitoring activities to assess atmospheric opacity and composition. The second sol includes several ChemCam …
18 November 2015
Sols 1167-1168: Onward to the Bagnold Dunes
The Bagnold Dunes are tantalizingly close, and this week is mostly focused on driving to the dunes. On Sol 1167 Curiosity drove 39 m, and the dunes are starting to look pretty big, as seen in the above Navcam image. For more on our plans when we get to the dunes, check out this recent press release. The plan today looks very similar to yesterday, with a pre-drive science block, a …
16 November 2015
Sol 1165: Uplink Problems
Unfortunately, our plans for the weekend were thwarted by a problem with the Deep Space Network that prevented the plans from being sent to the rover. As someone on the team pointed out in response to the issue, this just goes to show how many steps in the process have to go just right for us to be able to operate a rover on Mars, and it’s pretty impressive that …
14 November 2015
Sols 1164-1165: Brushing “Swartkloofberg”
The rover drove over 38 meters on Sol 1162, as expected. We are transitioning out of restricted planning, so only 2 sols are being planned for this weekend. There were so many good ideas for activities this morning that the team had to decide which to remove from the plan to leave enough charge in the rover’s batteries to enable nominal planning on Monday. Still, the plan is a very …
12 November 2015
Sols 1162-1163: Approaching Bagnold Dunes
Today is a holiday for some of us, but not the MSL tactical operations team! The 55-meter drive planned for Sol 1160 completed as planned, and another 41-meter drive is planned for Sol 1162. Before the next drive, Mastcam and ChemCam will observe a small, sandy drift named “Arris” and a bedrock target dubbed “Tsumeb.” Mastcam will also acquire two mosaics, one of nearby outcrops and one of more distant …
10 November 2015
Sol 1160-1161: Brandberg
The 68-meter drive planned for Sol 1158 completed as planned, placing the rover near a dark, circular feature named “Brandberg.” The tactical operations team studied the images of Brandberg and discussed the value of contact science observations in this area, ultimately deciding to drive on toward the Bagnold Dunes. But before leaving, ChemCam and Mastcam will observe targets “Hoba” and “Gibeon” on the Brandberg feature, which appears to be a …
8 November 2015
Sol 1157-1159: A Busy Weekend on Mars
Whew! It’s going to be a busy weekend on Mars! The Sol 1157 plan starts off with an activity to test out AEGIS, a software tool that will help with choosing targets for ChemCam and Mastcam. The AEGIS activity will take ChemCam images of two targets: “Ashley Lakes” and “Amsden”. That is followed by a ChemCam observation of the target “Augusta”. Mastcam will take supporting images of Ashley Lakes and …
6 November 2015
Sol 1155-1156: Limited Downlink
Today’s planning was a bit challenging because we only got a few Navcam images down to show us possible science targets, which limited our choices for ChemCam observations. We are all looking forward to Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) waking up from the intentional “safe mode” status that it has been in this week! Still, even with limited data we were able to put together a good plan. On Sol 1155, …
2 November 2015
Sol 1153-1154: Driving Around
The short drive over the weekend went well, putting us in a good position for a longer drive in today’s plan. Before we drive, ChemCam will analyze the targets “Tampico”, “LaValle”, and “Muddy” to determine if their apparent variations in brightness in the Navcam images correspond to a variation in chemistry. Mastcam will take documentation images of the ChemCam targets, plus a 13×3 mosaic of the resistant outcrop “East Glacier” …
