Dust storm and camera caution
The dust storm kept skies pretty opaque for most of the period covered in this update. At Voyageurs, there were still no visible shadows, a sign of enough dust to make the sky appear overcast.
The MAHLI team is especially concerned about protecting their instrument from the settling dust. MAHLI has a dust cover, so it’s actually more protected than the other cameras -- so why the concern? It’s because MAHLI is designed to focus on objects very close to the lens. For the far-viewing Mastcams, a speck of dust on the lens is so out of focus that it just makes a diffuse dark spot that is easy to correct in software. From time to time, the camera team takes photos of the sky as flat fields to help with these corrections. If a speck of dust were to land on MAHLI’s optics, it would be much closer to being in focus than the same speck of dust that landed on Mastcam. A speck of dust on MAHLI would actually occlude the view, and would not be correctable with a flat field. Obviously the team would like to avoid that if at all possible.
MAHLI does have a transparent dust cover, and it has sometimes worked to do MAHLI imaging with the dust cover in place. The dust cover is very, very dusty now. The dust on the dust cover doesn’t affect MAHLI’s ability to focus, but it does affect the contrast in MAHLI images. The lack of contrast can usually be fixed with image processing, but the dust storm is causing problems here, too. The overcast skies and lack of shadows causes a lack of contrast in the landscape. That, in turn, means that images shot through MAHLI’s dust-coated dust cover are essentially useless. This, believe it or not, should be a typical wheel survey image. If you stare hard, you can just barely make out the sharp line of the belly of the rover contrasting with the Martian sky at upper left.
The team has developed a new way of doing wheel imaging while dust settling on the MAHLI optics is a concern. Routine wheel imaging has always included photos of the right-side wheels with the Mastcam. (For examples, see this one and the four images following it.) For now, the Mastcam will take the only pictures of those wheels; none will come from MAHLI. But because the mast is mounted on Curiosity’s right shoulder, it can’t see the left-side wheels at all. The new MAHLI sequence has MAHLI looking nearly straight down at Curiosity’s left-front and left-middle wheel to observe their condition. The MAHLI team feels safest about using MAHLI when it is pointed straight down, a geometry in which dust is unlikely to settle on its optics. MAHLI won’t be able to see the left-rear wheel, but both rear wheels are in excellent condition and don’t need such frequent monitoring.
Sam inlet view
Finally, a fun little animation showing a part of the rover that I've never seen before: the open SAM inlet cover. Curiosity has three inlets on the deck for the instruments to accept samples: two for the SAM instrument (the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer and other stuff, which focuses on organics and atmospheric composition and lighter elements like hydrogen and carbon) and one for the CheMin instrument (which does x-ray diffraction/x-ray fluorescence to identify minerals). CheMin is protected by a screen, which MAHLI routinely images to make sure nothing is clogging the screen. But SAM doesn't want MAHLI poised over its inlet for reasons to do with avoiding cross-contamination, so MAHLI has never taken an image of the SAM inlet. Now that the team has switched to a different way of delivering sample, they wanted to check around the SAM inlet to make sure that samples being dropped from the drill weren't falling outside the inlet funnel. So they used Mastcam to take a photo of it for the first time. It feels almost indecent -- this is an exposed part of Curiosity I'd never seen before!
Curiosity SAM inlet cover in motion
NASA / JPL / MSSS / Paul Hammond
CURIOSITY SAM INLET COVER IN MOTION
On sol 2155, the Curiosity team commanded the Mastcam to take a photo of one of the two SAM instrument inlets with the cover open. The inlet funnel is much less dusty than the parts of the rover that are routinely exposed to sky.
That’s it, until next time. Hopefully next time I’ll have two more drill sites to tell you about! For now, please enjoy more than 10,000 words of detailed updates written by Curiosity team members, reposted from here.
Curiosity Mission Updates
Sols 2093-2094 update by Lauren Edgar: Feeling powerful (26 July 2018)
Today’s 2-sol plan kicked off with the good news that our power state exceeded predictions, so we were able to add in some extra science activities. The first sol starts with several remote sensing activities to continue to monitor the ongoing dust storm. Then the team planned several ChemCam observations of “Mudhole Lake,” “Jacobs Lake,” and “Monker Lake” to assess the bedrock chemistry and search for evaporites, followed by Mastcam documentation. In the afternoon, Curiosity will acquire a short multispectral tau observation to measure the optical depth of the atmosphere and constrain aerosol scattering properties. Given the extra power today, but without many appealing contact science targets, the team decided to get an APXS calibration target observation overnight. On the second sol Curiosity will continue driving up the steep slope to the south, followed by post-drive imaging and further atmospheric observations. I’ll be on duty for the next plan, so I spent today getting caught up on everything that Curiosity has been up to!
Sols 2095-2096 update by Lauren Edgar: Over the crest (28 June 2018)
After a steep drive Sol 2094, Curiosity is back over the crest of Vera Rubin Ridge and enjoying the view of flatter terrain ahead. I was the SOWG Chair on this late slide sol, which means that we started planning 3.5 hours later than usual. Everything was going smoothly and we were excited to plan some potential contact science, until we found a rock under the left front wheel that might make Curiosity unstable during arm activities. So at the last minute we swapped out MAHLI and APXS activities for some additional remote sensing. We still packed a lot of science into the two-sol plan, and we’ll have another opportunity to do contact science in the weekend plan.
The first sol includes ChemCam and Mastcam observations of “Crosby” and “Hekkla Lake” to characterize the bedrock at this location. This plan is also full of atmospheric observations to monitor the ongoing dust storm, which will provide some great data from the surface regarding this unique event. We also planned Mastcam imaging of the rover deck to monitor the accumulation and movement of fine material, as well as a number of ChemCam calibration activities under high atmospheric opacity conditions. Then Curiosity will continue driving to the south and will acquire post-drive imaging to prepare for the weekend plan. Overnight, CheMin will carry out the last analysis of the Duluth drill sample. The second sol includes more atmospheric monitoring and calibration activities, along with a ChemCam AEGIS observation to autonomously target bedrock in our new location. Hoping for clearer skies and fewer loose rocks under our wheels!
Sols 2097-2099 update by Christopher Edwards: Stopped Drive (2 July 2018)
Curiosity stopped its drive a bit earlier than anticipated. It so happens that the autonomous software onboard Curiosity designed to keep it driving safely kicked in and ended the drive short of the planned distance. When things like this happen, it’s a bit of a setback to science, but keeping the rover safe is priority number one. Not only did the drive stop short, but Curiosity actually ended up in a location where there wasn’t a good surface model, triggering the Slip Risk Assessment Process (SRAP) to fail. A failed SRAP means that Curiosity cannot safely carryout any arm-based activities, so the science team resorted to remote sensing activities using the cameras and ChemCam to continue to assess the Vera Rubin Ridge.
In this three sol plan, Curiosity will first carry out a host of remote sensing activities including 5 ChemCam activities, Mastcam documentation images of the ChemCam locations and a small Mastcam mosaic of a layered rock outcrop on the horizon. On the second sol, the rover will make good progress driving along the previously planned path using only the existing terrain surface model that is available. The usual suite of post-drive imaging to help decide science targets in the next plan will also be acquired. Importantly, as the dust storm on Mars continues to affect Curiosity, activities designed to monitor the amount of dust in the atmosphere will remain a priority and be made as frequently as possible.
Sol 2100-2101 update by Scott Guzewich: Back on Top (2 July 2018)
Curiosity is back on top of the Vera Rubin Ridge once more, having completed our drive over the weekend as we move toward our next drilling target in the “Pettegrove Point” geological member. This Navcam image shows the occasionally steep edge of the Vera Rubin Ridge on the left side of the image and the dusty haze beyond it that has shrunk our horizons for the last few weeks.
Today’s 2-sol plan involved contact science with APXS on rock targets “Dumbarton Rock”, “Duntarvie Castle”, and “Duntelchaig” and four ChemCam LIBS rasters on nearby targets. After climbing back onto the ridge, there is no lack of interesting bedrock targets nearby and the ground is much smoother and suitable for driving compared to where we’ve been for the last many weeks while we studied our “Duluth” drill hole and its surroundings.
As ENV science lead today, I continued our dust storm campaign with a variety of measurements of atmospheric dust opacity (which has continued a very slow decline from a peak about 2 weeks ago). We’ve had to alter existing measurement techniques for measuring dust opacity and create new ones to account for the high amounts of dust in the atmosphere and the corresponding low light levels at the surface. But this also affords us new opportunities to study the properties of dust particles themselves.
Sols 2102-2103 update by Mark Salvatore: A Working Holiday (4 July 2018)
While the rest of us are enjoying fireworks, BBQs, and spending time with friends and family, Curiosity will remain hard at work over this Fourth of July holiday. On Monday, the science team planned Monday and Tuesday activities on Mars, while today (Tuesday) they planned Wednesday and Thursday activities. This will allow the rover team to take a well-deserved holiday break on Wednesday!
Because of this interesting planning timeline, however, the science team had to make today’s plan before Curiosity executed the plan that was created yesterday. This is no problem though, as we’re in the same location, so we have plenty of activities to do and know which targets to focus on.
In yesterday’s plan, Curiosity used her arm to acquire Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) measurements on three targets - one brushed with the Dust Removal Tool (DRT) and two unbrushed targets. Today’s plan will use the arm to acquire high-resolution images of these three targets (named “Dumbarton Rock,” “Duntarvie Castle,” and “Duntelchaig”) using the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI). There was quite a bit of discussion about how much time the MAHLI and other images acquired by Curiosity would take in the middle of this dust storm, now that the sky is much darker than usual and the illumination conditions are very different from the typically clearer skies that Curiosity has been used to for the past several years. In the end, it was determined that imaging would not be significantly influenced by the darker and dustier skies. A ChemCam LIBS analysis was also planned on the “Callanish” target, which is a layered block just off the right front wheel of the rover. This observation will help in our continued documentation of the chemical variations observed as we climb back up the Vera Rubin Ridge.
Following these operations, Curiosity will tuck her arm back into its stored position and continue her drive up the ridge. During her drive, Curiosity will acquire frequent images of the ground using the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI). This imaging sequence is referred to as a “sidewalk video,” as the final stitched mosaic looks like sidewalk blocks moving across the martian landscape. These sequences help us to see how the terrain under the rover changes as we progress across the surface. After her drive, Curiosity will undertake a standard post-drive imaging campaign to characterize the surrounding landscape, which can be used by the rover team to plan subsequent scientific and navigational activities. On the second day of the plan, Curiosity will obtain automated chemistry measurements using the ChemCam LIBS instrument. These data will be sent down to the rover team before the next planning session.
Sol 2104-06 update by Scott Guzewich: Have we reached the peak? (26 July 2018)
Our primary goal for today’s planning was to continue to approach our next drill location on the Vera Rubin Ridge by paralleling the north side of the ridge (seen on the left side of this image) during this plan’s drive while documenting the geochemistry of the bedrock we’re currently parked on and continuing to study the ongoing planet-encircling dust storm. A warning from ChemCam received early this morning prevented us from employing ChemCam for both of those purposes, but it was cleared up later and will be ready for Monday’s planning. We therefore took advantage of the unexpected availability of science time to include some routine Mastcam calibration activities and additional observations of the dust storm.
The amount of dust over Gale Crater has been slowly declining over the last two weeks and it’s possible the dust storm has reached its “peak”. Whereas on Earth we have thousands of surface weather stations and a constellation of spacecraft observing the weather, on Mars we are comparatively blind to global conditions. But based on what data we do have, we may now be entering (or soon entering) the period where the massive amount of dust in the atmosphere will slowly settle out and Mars’ shrouded surface may once again be clearly visible from space.
Sol 2107 update by Roger Wiens: Heading Back to the Great Red Spot (9 July 2018)
The image above shows the Mastcam view as of Sol 2104, in which the nearby terrain is clearly visible, but nothing beyond the foreground, and the entire scene looks a murky red-brown color due to the dust storm. Unhampered by the storm, Curiosity is heading back toward a site visited on Sol 2005 for what we hope will be the next drill target. Jupiter is known for its “Great Red Spot”, which is a swirling storm thousands of kilometers in diameter. The rover drive destination could perhaps be called the “Great Red Spot on Mars” as it seems to indicate the presence of a reddish mineral, hematite, as seen from orbit and in rover spectra. Of course this spot is not at all as prominent from orbit as Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, but the orbital spectra do predict this location to have one of the highest surface hematite abundances in this part of Gale crater.
ChemCam was marked healthy over the weekend after repetition of a known event last week. REMS lost a small amount of science data over the weekend in a slight anomaly, but the instrument remains healthy.
Today we will uplink a one-sol plan. Activities will include a drive to cover most of the 50 meters remaining to our planned drill target. There are three targets in the pre-drive workspace. The arm will deploy MAHLI and APXS to target “Chippewa”. APXS will get two 15-minute integrations; MAHLI will image from 25 and 5 cm distances. ChemCam will target “Animikie” nearby. Mastcam will document that target plus “Barnum”, a piece of bedrock in between the other two. Navcam will continue checking the atmospheric opacity and Mastcam will collect a 4-image mosaic of “Taconite_crater.” DAN, REMS, and RAD will continue taking environmental data.
Tomorrow is a “soliday” or effectively a leap day in which Earth has an extra day relative to Mars. Our next sol of uplink will be on Wednesday.
Sol 2108 update by Roger Wiens: Back Towards Stranraer (11 July 2018)
After being out of commission for over a year, Curiosity’s drill is making not just a comeback, but a strong one, with imminent plans for a second drill hole within the span of 60 sols. The rover is heading back to a place it visited on Sol 2005, looking to drill near target Stranraer. Curiosity has just been climbing back up Vera Rubin Ridge from drill target Duluth, which was drilled on Sol 2057 at the base of the ridge. If the rover succeeds with another drill target within the next few sols, it will be quite a rapid turn-around. Previous instances when drill holes were made within rapid succession include the combination of Mojave and Telegraph Peak (sols 882 and 908) at Pahrump; the trio of Lubango, Okoruso, and Oudam on Naukluft Plateau between sols 1320 and 1361; and Quela and Sebina between sols 1464 and 1495.
Curiosity still has about six meters to go to the area around Stranraer, so the short drive will be a feature of today’s activities. Along with that, and still using target names from northern Minnesota, ChemCam will analyze targets “Fort_Francis and “Icarus_Lake”. APXS and MAHLI will analyze a dark rock named “Orr”. (A MAHLI image of nearby bedrock target “Dumbarton_Rock” is shown in the above image. Laser pits and crystal forms can be seen in the red rock.) After the drive, Navcam will take images of the region in front of the rover, and the onboard computer will select a new target for ChemCam to shoot. Mastcam will take an image for the clast survey, and will check the sky conditions with a tau measurement and a view out to the crater rim (if it shows up through the dusty air). RAD, REMS, and DAN will get data, including a DAN Active measurement, and MARDI will take an image of the ground beneath the rover.
The dust storm kept skies pretty opaque for most of the period covered in this update. At Voyageurs, there were still no visible shadows, a sign of enough dust to make the sky appear overcast.
The MAHLI team is especially concerned about protecting their instrument from the settling dust. MAHLI has a dust cover, so it’s actually more protected than the other cameras -- so why the concern? It’s because MAHLI is designed to focus on objects very close to the lens. For the far-viewing Mastcams, a speck of dust on the lens is so out of focus that it just makes a diffuse dark spot that is easy to correct in software. From time to time, the camera team takes photos of the sky as flat fields to help with these corrections. If a speck of dust were to land on MAHLI’s optics, it would be much closer to being in focus than the same speck of dust that landed on Mastcam. A speck of dust on MAHLI would actually occlude the view, and would not be correctable with a flat field. Obviously the team would like to avoid that if at all possible.
MAHLI does have a transparent dust cover, and it has sometimes worked to do MAHLI imaging with the dust cover in place. The dust cover is very, very dusty now. The dust on the dust cover doesn’t affect MAHLI’s ability to focus, but it does affect the contrast in MAHLI images. The lack of contrast can usually be fixed with image processing, but the dust storm is causing problems here, too. The overcast skies and lack of shadows causes a lack of contrast in the landscape. That, in turn, means that images shot through MAHLI’s dust-coated dust cover are essentially useless. This, believe it or not, should be a typical wheel survey image. If you stare hard, you can just barely make out the sharp line of the belly of the rover contrasting with the Martian sky at upper left.
The team has developed a new way of doing wheel imaging while dust settling on the MAHLI optics is a concern. Routine wheel imaging has always included photos of the right-side wheels with the Mastcam. (For examples, see this one and the four images following it.) For now, the Mastcam will take the only pictures of those wheels; none will come from MAHLI. But because the mast is mounted on Curiosity’s right shoulder, it can’t see the left-side wheels at all. The new MAHLI sequence has MAHLI looking nearly straight down at Curiosity’s left-front and left-middle wheel to observe their condition. The MAHLI team feels safest about using MAHLI when it is pointed straight down, a geometry in which dust is unlikely to settle on its optics. MAHLI won’t be able to see the left-rear wheel, but both rear wheels are in excellent condition and don’t need such frequent monitoring.
Sam inlet view
Finally, a fun little animation showing a part of the rover that I've never seen before: the open SAM inlet cover. Curiosity has three inlets on the deck for the instruments to accept samples: two for the SAM instrument (the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer and other stuff, which focuses on organics and atmospheric composition and lighter elements like hydrogen and carbon) and one for the CheMin instrument (which does x-ray diffraction/x-ray fluorescence to identify minerals). CheMin is protected by a screen, which MAHLI routinely images to make sure nothing is clogging the screen. But SAM doesn't want MAHLI poised over its inlet for reasons to do with avoiding cross-contamination, so MAHLI has never taken an image of the SAM inlet. Now that the team has switched to a different way of delivering sample, they wanted to check around the SAM inlet to make sure that samples being dropped from the drill weren't falling outside the inlet funnel. So they used Mastcam to take a photo of it for the first time. It feels almost indecent -- this is an exposed part of Curiosity I'd never seen before!
Curiosity SAM inlet cover in motion
NASA / JPL / MSSS / Paul Hammond
CURIOSITY SAM INLET COVER IN MOTION
On sol 2155, the Curiosity team commanded the Mastcam to take a photo of one of the two SAM instrument inlets with the cover open. The inlet funnel is much less dusty than the parts of the rover that are routinely exposed to sky.
That’s it, until next time. Hopefully next time I’ll have two more drill sites to tell you about! For now, please enjoy more than 10,000 words of detailed updates written by Curiosity team members, reposted from here.
Curiosity Mission Updates
Sols 2093-2094 update by Lauren Edgar: Feeling powerful (26 July 2018)
Today’s 2-sol plan kicked off with the good news that our power state exceeded predictions, so we were able to add in some extra science activities. The first sol starts with several remote sensing activities to continue to monitor the ongoing dust storm. Then the team planned several ChemCam observations of “Mudhole Lake,” “Jacobs Lake,” and “Monker Lake” to assess the bedrock chemistry and search for evaporites, followed by Mastcam documentation. In the afternoon, Curiosity will acquire a short multispectral tau observation to measure the optical depth of the atmosphere and constrain aerosol scattering properties. Given the extra power today, but without many appealing contact science targets, the team decided to get an APXS calibration target observation overnight. On the second sol Curiosity will continue driving up the steep slope to the south, followed by post-drive imaging and further atmospheric observations. I’ll be on duty for the next plan, so I spent today getting caught up on everything that Curiosity has been up to!
Sols 2095-2096 update by Lauren Edgar: Over the crest (28 June 2018)
After a steep drive Sol 2094, Curiosity is back over the crest of Vera Rubin Ridge and enjoying the view of flatter terrain ahead. I was the SOWG Chair on this late slide sol, which means that we started planning 3.5 hours later than usual. Everything was going smoothly and we were excited to plan some potential contact science, until we found a rock under the left front wheel that might make Curiosity unstable during arm activities. So at the last minute we swapped out MAHLI and APXS activities for some additional remote sensing. We still packed a lot of science into the two-sol plan, and we’ll have another opportunity to do contact science in the weekend plan.
The first sol includes ChemCam and Mastcam observations of “Crosby” and “Hekkla Lake” to characterize the bedrock at this location. This plan is also full of atmospheric observations to monitor the ongoing dust storm, which will provide some great data from the surface regarding this unique event. We also planned Mastcam imaging of the rover deck to monitor the accumulation and movement of fine material, as well as a number of ChemCam calibration activities under high atmospheric opacity conditions. Then Curiosity will continue driving to the south and will acquire post-drive imaging to prepare for the weekend plan. Overnight, CheMin will carry out the last analysis of the Duluth drill sample. The second sol includes more atmospheric monitoring and calibration activities, along with a ChemCam AEGIS observation to autonomously target bedrock in our new location. Hoping for clearer skies and fewer loose rocks under our wheels!
Sols 2097-2099 update by Christopher Edwards: Stopped Drive (2 July 2018)
Curiosity stopped its drive a bit earlier than anticipated. It so happens that the autonomous software onboard Curiosity designed to keep it driving safely kicked in and ended the drive short of the planned distance. When things like this happen, it’s a bit of a setback to science, but keeping the rover safe is priority number one. Not only did the drive stop short, but Curiosity actually ended up in a location where there wasn’t a good surface model, triggering the Slip Risk Assessment Process (SRAP) to fail. A failed SRAP means that Curiosity cannot safely carryout any arm-based activities, so the science team resorted to remote sensing activities using the cameras and ChemCam to continue to assess the Vera Rubin Ridge.
In this three sol plan, Curiosity will first carry out a host of remote sensing activities including 5 ChemCam activities, Mastcam documentation images of the ChemCam locations and a small Mastcam mosaic of a layered rock outcrop on the horizon. On the second sol, the rover will make good progress driving along the previously planned path using only the existing terrain surface model that is available. The usual suite of post-drive imaging to help decide science targets in the next plan will also be acquired. Importantly, as the dust storm on Mars continues to affect Curiosity, activities designed to monitor the amount of dust in the atmosphere will remain a priority and be made as frequently as possible.
Sol 2100-2101 update by Scott Guzewich: Back on Top (2 July 2018)
Curiosity is back on top of the Vera Rubin Ridge once more, having completed our drive over the weekend as we move toward our next drilling target in the “Pettegrove Point” geological member. This Navcam image shows the occasionally steep edge of the Vera Rubin Ridge on the left side of the image and the dusty haze beyond it that has shrunk our horizons for the last few weeks.
Today’s 2-sol plan involved contact science with APXS on rock targets “Dumbarton Rock”, “Duntarvie Castle”, and “Duntelchaig” and four ChemCam LIBS rasters on nearby targets. After climbing back onto the ridge, there is no lack of interesting bedrock targets nearby and the ground is much smoother and suitable for driving compared to where we’ve been for the last many weeks while we studied our “Duluth” drill hole and its surroundings.
As ENV science lead today, I continued our dust storm campaign with a variety of measurements of atmospheric dust opacity (which has continued a very slow decline from a peak about 2 weeks ago). We’ve had to alter existing measurement techniques for measuring dust opacity and create new ones to account for the high amounts of dust in the atmosphere and the corresponding low light levels at the surface. But this also affords us new opportunities to study the properties of dust particles themselves.
Sols 2102-2103 update by Mark Salvatore: A Working Holiday (4 July 2018)
While the rest of us are enjoying fireworks, BBQs, and spending time with friends and family, Curiosity will remain hard at work over this Fourth of July holiday. On Monday, the science team planned Monday and Tuesday activities on Mars, while today (Tuesday) they planned Wednesday and Thursday activities. This will allow the rover team to take a well-deserved holiday break on Wednesday!
Because of this interesting planning timeline, however, the science team had to make today’s plan before Curiosity executed the plan that was created yesterday. This is no problem though, as we’re in the same location, so we have plenty of activities to do and know which targets to focus on.
In yesterday’s plan, Curiosity used her arm to acquire Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) measurements on three targets - one brushed with the Dust Removal Tool (DRT) and two unbrushed targets. Today’s plan will use the arm to acquire high-resolution images of these three targets (named “Dumbarton Rock,” “Duntarvie Castle,” and “Duntelchaig”) using the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI). There was quite a bit of discussion about how much time the MAHLI and other images acquired by Curiosity would take in the middle of this dust storm, now that the sky is much darker than usual and the illumination conditions are very different from the typically clearer skies that Curiosity has been used to for the past several years. In the end, it was determined that imaging would not be significantly influenced by the darker and dustier skies. A ChemCam LIBS analysis was also planned on the “Callanish” target, which is a layered block just off the right front wheel of the rover. This observation will help in our continued documentation of the chemical variations observed as we climb back up the Vera Rubin Ridge.
Following these operations, Curiosity will tuck her arm back into its stored position and continue her drive up the ridge. During her drive, Curiosity will acquire frequent images of the ground using the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI). This imaging sequence is referred to as a “sidewalk video,” as the final stitched mosaic looks like sidewalk blocks moving across the martian landscape. These sequences help us to see how the terrain under the rover changes as we progress across the surface. After her drive, Curiosity will undertake a standard post-drive imaging campaign to characterize the surrounding landscape, which can be used by the rover team to plan subsequent scientific and navigational activities. On the second day of the plan, Curiosity will obtain automated chemistry measurements using the ChemCam LIBS instrument. These data will be sent down to the rover team before the next planning session.
Sol 2104-06 update by Scott Guzewich: Have we reached the peak? (26 July 2018)
Our primary goal for today’s planning was to continue to approach our next drill location on the Vera Rubin Ridge by paralleling the north side of the ridge (seen on the left side of this image) during this plan’s drive while documenting the geochemistry of the bedrock we’re currently parked on and continuing to study the ongoing planet-encircling dust storm. A warning from ChemCam received early this morning prevented us from employing ChemCam for both of those purposes, but it was cleared up later and will be ready for Monday’s planning. We therefore took advantage of the unexpected availability of science time to include some routine Mastcam calibration activities and additional observations of the dust storm.
The amount of dust over Gale Crater has been slowly declining over the last two weeks and it’s possible the dust storm has reached its “peak”. Whereas on Earth we have thousands of surface weather stations and a constellation of spacecraft observing the weather, on Mars we are comparatively blind to global conditions. But based on what data we do have, we may now be entering (or soon entering) the period where the massive amount of dust in the atmosphere will slowly settle out and Mars’ shrouded surface may once again be clearly visible from space.
Sol 2107 update by Roger Wiens: Heading Back to the Great Red Spot (9 July 2018)
The image above shows the Mastcam view as of Sol 2104, in which the nearby terrain is clearly visible, but nothing beyond the foreground, and the entire scene looks a murky red-brown color due to the dust storm. Unhampered by the storm, Curiosity is heading back toward a site visited on Sol 2005 for what we hope will be the next drill target. Jupiter is known for its “Great Red Spot”, which is a swirling storm thousands of kilometers in diameter. The rover drive destination could perhaps be called the “Great Red Spot on Mars” as it seems to indicate the presence of a reddish mineral, hematite, as seen from orbit and in rover spectra. Of course this spot is not at all as prominent from orbit as Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, but the orbital spectra do predict this location to have one of the highest surface hematite abundances in this part of Gale crater.
ChemCam was marked healthy over the weekend after repetition of a known event last week. REMS lost a small amount of science data over the weekend in a slight anomaly, but the instrument remains healthy.
Today we will uplink a one-sol plan. Activities will include a drive to cover most of the 50 meters remaining to our planned drill target. There are three targets in the pre-drive workspace. The arm will deploy MAHLI and APXS to target “Chippewa”. APXS will get two 15-minute integrations; MAHLI will image from 25 and 5 cm distances. ChemCam will target “Animikie” nearby. Mastcam will document that target plus “Barnum”, a piece of bedrock in between the other two. Navcam will continue checking the atmospheric opacity and Mastcam will collect a 4-image mosaic of “Taconite_crater.” DAN, REMS, and RAD will continue taking environmental data.
Tomorrow is a “soliday” or effectively a leap day in which Earth has an extra day relative to Mars. Our next sol of uplink will be on Wednesday.
Sol 2108 update by Roger Wiens: Back Towards Stranraer (11 July 2018)
After being out of commission for over a year, Curiosity’s drill is making not just a comeback, but a strong one, with imminent plans for a second drill hole within the span of 60 sols. The rover is heading back to a place it visited on Sol 2005, looking to drill near target Stranraer. Curiosity has just been climbing back up Vera Rubin Ridge from drill target Duluth, which was drilled on Sol 2057 at the base of the ridge. If the rover succeeds with another drill target within the next few sols, it will be quite a rapid turn-around. Previous instances when drill holes were made within rapid succession include the combination of Mojave and Telegraph Peak (sols 882 and 908) at Pahrump; the trio of Lubango, Okoruso, and Oudam on Naukluft Plateau between sols 1320 and 1361; and Quela and Sebina between sols 1464 and 1495.
Curiosity still has about six meters to go to the area around Stranraer, so the short drive will be a feature of today’s activities. Along with that, and still using target names from northern Minnesota, ChemCam will analyze targets “Fort_Francis and “Icarus_Lake”. APXS and MAHLI will analyze a dark rock named “Orr”. (A MAHLI image of nearby bedrock target “Dumbarton_Rock” is shown in the above image. Laser pits and crystal forms can be seen in the red rock.) After the drive, Navcam will take images of the region in front of the rover, and the onboard computer will select a new target for ChemCam to shoot. Mastcam will take an image for the clast survey, and will check the sky conditions with a tau measurement and a view out to the crater rim (if it shows up through the dusty air). RAD, REMS, and DAN will get data, including a DAN Active measurement, and MARDI will take an image of the ground beneath the rover.
Curiosity update, sols 2093-2162: Three tries to successful drill atop Vera Rubin Ridge-- 3
![Curiosity update, sols 2093-2162: Three tries to successful drill atop Vera Rubin Ridge-- 3]()
Reviewed by Reshaper
on
October 15, 2018
Rating:
No comments: