Sols 1598-1599: Imaging Ireson Hill

1 February 2017

The drive on Sol 1596 went well, and Curiosity drove ~21 m to the southwest, providing a great view of “Ireson Hill,” seen in the above Navcam image. Today’s two-sol plan looks pretty similar to the last. We’ll start with MAHLI and APXS of the target “Digdeguah” to investigate typical local bedrock with some exposed stratification. Then ChemCam will continue its recovery activities with an RMI observation of the titanium calibration target. We’ll use Mastcam to acquire a large mosaic of “Ireson Hill” to characterize the contact and color variations exposed on the south side of this feature. The team also planned a Mastcam mosaic of the “Allsbury” area to document the contact science target and fracture patterns, as well as a Mastcam tau to characterize atmospheric opacity. Then Curiosity will drive further to the southwest, and will take post-drive imaging to prepare for more contact science in the weekend plan. The second sol is devoted to environmental monitoring and a SAM measurement of the atmosphere.

By Lauren Edgar

--Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the MSL science team.