The drive on Sol 3397 went well and gave us some good perspective on the road ahead, as seen in the above Navcam image. Curiosity is perched at the edge of the pediment, carefully planning our route to climb fully on top of the pediment capping unit, and the team is eager to investigate these rocks!
This 3-sol plan was a typical weekend plan, with opportunities for contact science, remote sensing, and a drive. Although our workspace mostly consisted of loose sand, the team was able to plan MAHLI and APXS on some of the broken blocks right in front of the rover to investigate the grain size and composition of the local bedrock.
We also planned a lot of remote sensing observations to assess sedimentary structures and chemistry. In addition, the plan includes environmental monitoring observations to assess atmospheric opacity search for dust devils and clouds, as well as an overnight APXS atmospheric observation. Then we’ll drive to a good location to get an even better view, and hopefully have some bedrock in our workspace to study next week.
I was on duty as LTP today, and the team held a science discussion to think about observation strategies as we traverse across the pediment. It’s exciting to think about everything that we might learn on the road ahead of us!
Related Links
Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more
|
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook – our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don’t have a paywall – with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution. |
||
|
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal |
 |
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only |
Sol 3395: Last Chance for Contact
Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 24, 2022
Before the science team says “OK TO GO!,” today’s plan involves getting one of the last looks at the rocks right below the Greenheugh Pediment, some observations at the contact between them, and some higher up on Gediz-Vallis Ridge.
The rover will collect two APXS measurements on “Galdenoch,” one a brushed location and another offset from it, including some MAHLI images (see image) to document the textures there.
Right next to it is target “Glendouran” which we’ll collect Mastcam and ChemCam … read more