Astrogeology Science Center

The data needed to confirm that it was safe to drop some of the latest drill sample into CheMin were received late in the planning process on Wednesday, so no changes to the Sol 3171-3172 plan were needed. 

On Sol 3165 Curiosity carried out a short bump to better position the rover for drilling. The bump went well and we were excited to dive straight into planning today.

The sol 3156 drive went well, leaving the rover on bedrock with lots of dark nodules. 

Curiosity had another nice ~51 m drive over the weekend, making good progress towards the next intended drill location and taking in the view along the way.  It’s a good reminder to check the rearview mirror (or the view over the back right side of the rover, as seen in the above Navcam image) to remind ourselves just how far we’ve come.

Our 58 meter drive yesterday was successful, putting us in a new location with new targets to analyze! The plan for sols 3144 and 3145 is focused on contact science on two targets, a nodule named “Sarlande” and a patch of bedrock named “Plaisance”. 

Astrogeology Science Center (ASC) gears up for the upcoming 5th Planetary Data Workshop (PDW) and 2nd Planetary Science Informatics & Data Analytics (PSIDA) meeting, which will be held virtually from June 28 to July 2, 2021, with a registration deadline of June 23.

The Sol 3131 plan is focused on recovering from recent anomalies. 

We started planning today hoping to see some new bedrock in our workspace, but unfortunately the weekend plan didn’t work out exactly as we had hoped.

There is lots of bedrock in the arm workspace in front of the rover and contact science targets were quickly selected this morning. 

Today Curiosity is finishing up at a stop designed to investigate diagenetic features—features that formed after the sediment first was deposited—such as veins and color variations within the bedrock.

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