Due to an issue with the Sol 3410 and 3411 plans, parts of the Sol 3410 plan didn’t execute and the planned drive did not occur. But the Sol 3409 contact science activities completed successfully, returning nice MAHLI images of bedrock.
Because the rover did not move, the high-gain antenna view of Earth is still occluded, preventing direct communication from Earth and daily uplink. So we will have to send commands to one of the Mars orbiters for relay to the rover from orbit. We can’t use this technique every day, so we will not be able to send commands to the rover for Sol 3412 and focused today on planning Sols 3413 and 3414.
This situation made for an exciting and sometimes stressful day for me as SOWG Chair, but happily we were able to plan lots of good activities. Sol 3413 will be a “touch and go” sol, starting with an APXS integration on a bedrock slab named “Appleby” and ChemCam observations of “Geary Ravine” and the Gediz Vallis ridge in parallel.
Then MAHLI will acquire a full suite of images of Appleby and observe another bedrock slab called “Achvarasdal” from 25 and 5 cm above the target. Mastcam will take a multispectral set of images of the “Skaw Granite” brushed spot and document ChemCam LIBS targets.
Mastcam will also acquire a 6×6 stereo mosaic of “Lamington Sandstone” before the rover drives toward the northwest and takes a bunch of post-drive images from its new location. Another MARDI twilight image is planned, followed by an overnight APXS measurement of atmospheric chemistry.
Early on the morning of Sol 3414, Mastcam and Navcam will measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere and search for clouds overhead and above the horizon. Later that sol, ChemCam will autonomously select a LIBS target and shoot its laser at 5 spots on it.
Mastcam and Navcam will then measure dust in the atmosphere again, and Navcam will search for clouds and dust devils. We are looking forward to getting the vehicle into an attitude that will allow direct from Earth communication!
Detailed Caption
Using an onboard focusing process, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) aboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity created this product by merging two to eight images previously taken by the MAHLI, located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm.
Curiosity performed the merge on March 10, 2022, Sol 3410 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 18:48:31 UTC. The focus motor count position was 13844. This number indicates the lens position of the first image that was merged.
The onboard focus merge is sometimes performed on images acquired the same sol as the merge, and sometimes uses pictures obtained on an earlier sol. Focus merging is a method to make a composite of images of the same target acquired at different focus positions to bring all (or, as many as possible) features into focus in a single image.
Because the MAHLI focus merge is performed on Mars, it also serves as a means to reduce the number of images sent back to Earth. Each focus merge produces two images: a color, best-focus product and a black-and-white image that scientists can use to estimate focus position for each element of the best focus product. Thus, up to eight images can be merged, reducing the number of images returned to Earth to two.
+ Full size uncropped image
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 |
Sols 3403-3404: Tiptoe to the Pediment
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 07, 2022
The terrain continues to challenge us as we make our way up onto the Greenheugh pediment. Monday’s drive ended sooner than expected when the rover sensed the road was rockier than anticipated, so it paused to wait for further instructions from Earth. In the mean time, we took advantage of this brief pause to ‘sniff’ the rock field all around us.
First, we took ChemCam and Mastcam of “Tobar Mhoire” and “Ardalanish,” both points on a gray-toned rock with laminations. Farther afield, the rover will c … read more