Astrogeology Science Center
News
May’s Must-Read Journal Article: An ancient lake on Mars?
As the Curiosity rover explores the Martian climate and geology of Mars, scientists are hoping to find definitive evidence that life once existed there by studying its environment. When new data are acquired and studied, scientists make known their findings to other scientists, as well as to the public and in different venues.
Sol 2763-2764: SAM is Getting Ready
There was a hiccup with SAM in Monday’s plan preventing it from running the “preconditioning” steps to get ready for sample analysis, but after studying the issue the SAM team says that everything looks ok.
‘Cereously’: An Ice Shell of Ceres keeps fiery debates burning
In March 2015, researchers were excited as they waited for details about the dwarf planet Ceres from NASA’s Dawn mission. Further knowledge of the structure, surface, and history of Ceres were long-awaited and in acquisition. Dawn's revelation of the composition of Ceres’ 40-km-thick crust is debated among researchers despite the wealth of data collected.
Astrogeology Field Notes: March
Astrogeology Field Notes for March. “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” -Winston Churchill
Sols 2740-2741: Making the most of this stop
The plan for Sol 2740 and 2741 is focused on diagnosing the issue with MAHLI, but while we are sitting in one place, we will also collect plenty of remote sensing data of the area around the rover.
Sizzling News: Astrogeology releases a new map of the Moon
The USGS Astrogeology Science Center (ASC), in collaboration with NASA and the Lunar and Planetary Institute, has released a new definitive geologic map of the Moon!
USGS Releases First-Ever Comprehensive Geologic Map of the Moon
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Have you ever wondered what kind of rocks make up those bright and dark splotches on the moon? Well, the USGS has just released a new authoritative map to help explain the 4.5-billion-year-old history of our nearest neighbor in space.
Interesting photo: Astro recalls preliminary work of Apollo 13
The USGS was involved very early in the Apollo program. NASA and the U.S. Geological survey were working together in the field training program for astronauts.
Sneak a Peek: What more are researchers looking for in Martian caves?
Bringing mysteries of the Martian Cave to life to aid human exploration.
Sols 2727-2728: Finishing up at the Edinburgh drill site
In the weekend plan the remainder of the “Edinburgh” drill sample was dumped, which means that we are almost finished with activities in this drill location. This two-sol plan is filled with activities to characterize the dump pile and drill hole as well as remote sensing observations.
Sols 2724-2726: Dumping sample and more remote sensing for the weekend!
Curiosity is still at the Edinburgh drill site as part of a mini campaign to sample the Greenheugh pediment. We’re finishing drill-related analyses and activities, and the three-sol weekend plan is focused on dumping sample from the drill bit assembly and documenting the dump pile and drill tailings.
Sols 2720-2721: Extend Those Mosaics!
The priority for the sol 2720 plan is to drop off and analyze a sample of the Edinburgh drill hole in SAM, but we’ve got plenty of remote sensing in the plan too, much of it building on our previous observations from this spot. We start each morning with a Navcam dust devil survey.