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.

Sol 2109 update by Abigail Fraeman: Voyageurs (12 July 2018)

I first became involved with Curiosity shortly after starting my third year of graduate school in the fall of 2011. My graduate advisor was selected to join the mission as a Participating Scientist, and he enlisted me to help analyze orbital data over Mt. Sharp as part of that role. In particular, I was tasked to examine data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) to see what minerals Curiosity might find when she landed and, importantly, where exactly she should drive to visit the best exposures.

One of the most the significant things I found was the signature of the mineral hematite (Fe2O3) associated with the feature we now call Vera Rubin Ridge. Many collaborators and I spent the winter and spring of 2012 -- the time between launch and landing -- working out the geological implications of this discovery as best we could using orbital data, and beginning to ponder the specific observations Curiosity should make when she reached the ridge. I first presented these findings to the Curiosity science team on sol 15 of the mission (or August 20, 2012 Earth time).

Almost 2100 sols and countless exciting discoveries later, Curiosity is now poised to drill at the exact spot we first detected the strongest hematite signature over seven years ago. We’ve named the new drill target “Voyageurs” after a National Park in northern Minnesota. I love this name because it reminds me we truly are a team of voyagers, participating in a mission of exploration and discovery. The data we collect from this sample will help us better understand the environments that shaped Mt. Sharp over time, and, on a personal level, it will allow me to test some of the hypotheses I first started to formulate as a graduate student back in 2012.

Sol 2109 will be the first sol of our drilling campaign at Voyageurs (very close to the former target “Stranraer” that we examined back around sol 2004). The main focus of the sol’s plan will be contact science of the site, including DRT, MAHLI, and APXS observations. We’ll also take a Mastcam documentation of yesterday’s AEGIS target and do some ChemCam calibration activities. As always, we will continue to take environmental science observations to monitor the ongoing dust storm. As you can imagine, I am quite anxious and excited to see what we find!

Sols 2110-2112 update by Lauren Edgar: Let the drill fest begin! (13 July 2018)

Drilling on another planet is no easy feat, and each time we have the opportunity to do so on Mars feels pretty special. The focus of the weekend three-sol plan is to drill the target “Voyageurs,” which is part of an outcrop that shows a high hematite signature in orbital data.

The weekend plan kicks off with several Navcam and Mastcam observations of the atmosphere to continue to monitor the ongoing dust storm from our unique vantage point on the ground. Then ChemCam will analyze the “Voyageurs” target, followed by Mastcam multispectral imaging. Curiosity will continue several important environmental monitoring observations later in the afternoon and first thing the next morning, and throughout the second and third sols. The second sol also includes more Mastcam change detection observations of three different targets to look for changes and the movement of fine material. Then we’ll acquire MAHLI pre-drill images, and APXS on the future dump locations. With those observations complete, we’ll be “go” for the full drill of the “Voyageurs” target on Sol 2112! I’ll be on duty on Monday, so I’m anxiously awaiting the results of the drilling attempt and look forward to finding out what this rock is made of!

Sol 2113 update by Lauren Edgar: Hard as a rock (16 July 2018)

Unfortunately, we found out this morning that the “Voyageurs” drill target was a much harder rock than expected. While our drill plan executed perfectly, our bit stopped short of the full depth we need for sampling. The engineers are still evaluating the data to better understand the target. I had a busy morning as SOWG Chair, as the team had to come up with a new plan for today while thinking about our longer-term strategy. Ultimately, we decided to focus on contact science and documenting the mini drill hole in today’s plan.

The plan kicks off with several Navcam observations to monitor atmospheric opacity during the ongoing dust storm. Then we’ll take several Mastcam change detection observations to characterize the movement of sand, followed by several ChemCam observations to assess the diversity of color and composition in the bedrock here. We’ll also take a ChemCam RMI image of the “Voyageurs” target, which will help with targeting the drill hole with ChemCam in tomorrow’s plan. The afternoon includes a few more environmental monitoring activities, including a Navcam line-of-sight image, Mastcam tau, and crater rim extinction observation. Then Curiosity will image the drill chuck, drill bit, and turret, to monitor our tools. In the evening, we’ll acquire an APXS integration on the drill tailings, and overnight we’ll get a longer APXS integration on the drill hole. Today is a reminder that it’s hard to operate a rover and drill on another planet, but I’m hopeful that we’ll find a way to sample this part of the ridge!

Sol 2114 update by Mark Salvatore: Finishing Up at the Voyageurs Drill Site (17 July 2018)

After our attempt to drill the Voyageurs target did not reach sufficient depth due to the impressive hardness of the rock , the team is beginning to finish up its activities at this location before heading a bit further uphill to find a more suitable (i.e., softer) drill target. All evidence suggests that this rock target is one of the hardest yet observed in Gale crater, a property that may be indicative of this entire section of the Vera Rubin Ridge. To a geologist, variations in rock hardness could indicate several different physical and chemical properties about a rock. It is important for us to further characterize and understand why this rock unit is so much harder than the underlying rocks within the Murray formation. Could this increased hardness be related to changes in water chemistry as the sedimentary rocks were being deposited? Or, could this increased hardness be due to subsequent cementation as iron-rich water was injected into the previously deposited sedimentary rocks? In order to address these possible formation mechanisms (and countless others), we must continue to gather data on the physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties of this portion of the Vera Rubin Ridge.

Today’s rover activities contain a combination of scientific investigations and engineering activities. The plan starts with a short imaging science block around 11:30am local time, where Mastcam will be used to acquire images of the surrounding landscape to search for short-term changes to the surface, including sand migration and changes to dust cover. Navcam will also be used to investigate the atmospheric dust content and to search for nearby dust devils. Following this block of observations, Curiosity will use the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) high-resolution camera to investigate the shallow Voyageurs drill hole and to image the rover wheels with its dust cover closed (to avoid dirtying the camera lens). After a short nap and a data uplink to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as it passes overhead, Curiosity will embark on another block of science activities beginning around 3:00pm local time. This second suite will include Mastcam images of the dusty atmosphere, a ChemCam laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) chemical analysis of the Voyageurs drill hole, a LIBS measurements of the ChemCam calibration target, and a follow-up Mastcam documentation image of the drill hole. This will conclude the sol 2114 science activities.

I served as the geology science theme lead during yesterday’s plan, when the team first had to deal with the realization that the drill activities at the Voyageurs target did not penetrate deep enough into the target to acquire materials for analysis onboard the rover. While disappointing, the information gathered about the rock properties and drill activities led to a deluge of productive scientific discussions about how to proceed and what these observations tell us about the geologic environment that Curiosity is investigating. It’s moments like these that remind me of how lucky I am to be working with such an impressive group of scientists and engineers, who can collectively turn a frustrating sigh into a gasp of excitement as we think about our next observations and what more we have to learn about this interesting and foreign environment.

Sol 2115 update by Ken Herkenhoff: New method of wheel imaging (18 July 2018)

The priorities for Sol 2115 are to image the rover’s wheels and acquire the images needed to plan a drive back to the Sol 1999 location, where we might start another drilling campaign. The MAHLI images of the wheels taken on Sol 2114 with the dust cover closed show that there is enough dust on the cover to make it difficult to see the wheels, so a different approach to wheel imaging was planned for Sol 2115. To minimize the risk of dust contamination of MAHLI’s optics while the cover is open, MAHLI will image only the wheels on the left side of the rover from above the wheels, keeping MAHLI pointing downward while the dust cover is open. The wheels on the right side of the rover will be imaged by the left Mastcam rather than MAHLI. Then the rover will turn in place to allow imaging in the direction of the next drive, toward the southwest. After acquiring the standard post-drive data, Mastcam will observe the Sun and crater rim to continue the monitoring of the dust opacity over Gale Crater. These observations will be repeated twice early in the morning on Sol 2116 to look for short-term changes in opacity. In addition, ChemCam will use the AEGIS software to autonomously select a bedrock target for a 3x3 LIBS raster. Tactical planning went smoothly, so it was an easy day for me as SOWG Chair!

Sol 2116 update by Ken Herkenhoff: Driving back to Sgurr of Eigg (19 July 2018)

The Sol 2115 wheel imaging went well, and we received the images needed to plan a drive back to “Sgurr of Eigg,” near the Sol 1999 rover position. The >50-meter drive dominates the Sol 2116 plan, but leaves time for continued atmospheric and other scientific observations. Before the drive, Right Mastcam will image the ChemCam target selected by AEGIS on Sol 2115 and Navcam will monitor the opacity of the atmosphere. After the drive and the standard post-drive imaging needed to plan weekend activities, Mastcam will measure the atmospheric opacity and ChemCam will observe another target selected by AEGIS. Early in the morning of Sol 2117, Mastcam and Navcam will again monitor opacity, and Navcam will look for clouds overhead and near the horizon to measure wind velocity.

Earth and Mars are getting closer to each other this month, and by the end of this month Mars will be closer to Earth than it has been since 2003! Mars is visible low in the southeast after evening twilight. If you have a good telescope, you can monitor the progress of the global dust storm that is being intensely studied from spacecraft orbiting Mars as well as by MSL.

Sols 2117-2119 update by Michelle Minitti: “Ben” There (20 July 2018)

Curiosity made great progress yesterday across the “Vera Rubin Ridge” toward the site of our next drilling attempt at “Sgurr of Eigg”. In this weekend plan, we will collect more data about the ridge materials around us, and the sky above us, before embarking on a ~12 m drive to Sgurr of Eigg. We drove back into the Torridon quadrangle, so the target names once again have Scottish flavor. ChemCam shot three targets, each with a different characteristic. “Ben Stack” is a representative laminated bedrock target, “Ben Avon” is bedrock with small nodular features throughout it, and “Ben Lawers” includes a thin, resistant layer jutting out above the laminated bedrock surrounding it. APXS will also analyze a representative bedrock target, “Walsay,” but for reasons beyond just the normal chemical characterization of a target. APXS will analyze Walsay at four different distances - from touching the bedrock surface to hovering 3 cm above it - to refine how distance to the target affects APXS data. There are instances when the bedrock is rough enough that APXS cannot be placed directly in contact with a desired target. By conducting this calibration activity at Walsay, we will be better able to understand and interpret APXS data acquired in just such a situation.

The dust storm continues to envelop Curiosity, so our plan includes observations aimed at monitoring the amount of dust in the atmosphere at both early morning and midday times. We planned a dust devil survey, and a pair of cloud movies aimed at the horizon and at the zenith. ChemCam also took aim at the sky with a passive spectral observation to monitor the aerosols and trace gases in the atmosphere.

After the drive on Sol 2119, the rover will unstow her arm before imaging the workspace, providing the team with an unobstructed view of our next drill attempt site. Hopefully, we will be able to hit the ground running with our drill plan on Monday!

Sol 2120 update by Abigail Fraeman: A Little Bump (23 July 2018)

Our weekend drive completed successfully and we have our next intended drill target attempt in the rover workspace. Unfortunately, the combination of the rover’s pitch and roll would make future delivery of drilled sample to SAM via the new feed extended sample transfer (FEST) method impossible in our current orientation, so tosol we are going to scooch the rover over slightly to put it in a more favorable position for drill sample delivery activities.

The main activity for tosol is the small bump to get us into a good drill position. We also managed to get some science in before the bump. We will take a MAHLI image of “Sgurr of Eigg,” a contact science target from almost 120 sols ago, to see how much dust has deposited on it since we DRTed it. We will also take some ChemCam passive spectra from another familiar target, “Appin,” and then a Mastcam multispectral observation of both Sgurr of Eigg and Appin. We’ll finish out the morning science block with a Navcam dust devil survey and get some additional environmental science monitoring in the afternoon, including a tau observation and image of the crater rim to the north.

Sol 2121 update by Michelle Minitti: Blackjack! (24 July 2018)

Mars dealt us a winning hand today, yielding a sufficiently flat parking space after yesterday’s short bump to allow us to proceed with our plan to drill in this part of the “Vera Rubin Ridge.” Our current parking spot does not exhibit as strong a hematite signal from orbit as the site of our last drill attempt, but it still importantly provides an opportunity to sample the “Pettegrove Point” member of the Vera Rubin Ridge. Today we focused almost solely on characterizing the drill target, melodiously named “Ailsa Craig,” using MAHLI and APXS after brushing it with the DRT. The rover will also place the drill in contact with the target and push into it to test the target’s stability for drilling. If our luck continues, we will attempt drilling tomorrow! The science team managed to squeeze one observation unrelated to drilling into the plan - a single image of the sky to monitor the dust in the atmosphere.

Sols 2122-2123 update by Rachel Kronyak: Preparing to drill at “Ailsa Craig” (25 July 2018)

Yesterday, the science team chose a new drill target, “Ailsa Craig,” and we spent the day triaging the target with our contact science instruments, DRT, MAHLI, and APXS. The image above is one of the MAHLI images that we collected after the DRT removed some of the surface dust over the drill target.

Today, we’re planning two sols. Sol 2122 is devoted to drilling the target Ailsa Craig! We’ll collect some complementary observations to document our drilling activities with the Mastcam, MAHLI, and ChemCam RMI cameras. We’ll spend most of Sol 2123 recharging, but we also managed to squeeze in a few additional science observations, including two ChemCam LIBS analyses on nearby bedrock targets “Tolsta Head” and “Appin.” We’ll also use Mastcam to document two nearby crater features named “Taconite” and “Peterhead.” Finally, we’ll conduct some standard atmospheric tau and crater rim observations.

Sols 2124-2126 update by Ryan Anderson: It’s a Hard Rock Life (J27 July 2018)

Our attempt at drilling the target “Ailsa Craig” was partly successful: the drill behaved exactly as it was supposed to, but unfortunately we weren’t able to drill very deep. The rock here is just too hard! Since we didn’t get a nice deep drill hole, the plan for the weekend is to do some final observations at this location and then move on another location to try again.

The science block on Sol 2124 starts with a ChemCam passive observation of the pulverized rock tailings from our shallow drill hole. That will be followed by an “active” (laser zapping) observation of the vein target “LamLash Bay” accompanied by Mastcam multispectral images. Later in the afternoon, Mastcam and Navcam will do some atmospheric observations to monitor the dust levels as the planet-encircling storm gradually dies down. We’ll wrap up the day with APXS observations on and off of the drill hole.

In the morning of Sol 2125 Navcam and Mastcam have more atmospheric observations. Later in the afternoon, ChemCam will also analyze the chemistry of the drill hole and tailings and Mastcam and Navcam will do some more atmospheric measurements, including watching for dust devils.

On Sol 2126, Curiosity will drive toward our next potential drill location. We’ll collect the usual post-drive images to help us choose targets on Monday, as well as some more dust monitoring with Navcam.

Sol 2127 update by Christopher Edwards: Continuing to Understand Pettegrove Point (31 Aug 2018)

Curiosity completed its drive successfully after the science team regrouped from the incomplete drill, which required a different than anticipated weekend plan. The rocks of the Vera Rubin Ridge are just turning out to be harder than expected! In today’s plan, we will continue to assess the compositional diversity of the Vera Rubin Ridge Pettegrove Point member. In this workspace, we planned activities for two contact science targets, with APXS and MAHLI imaging of the locations dubbed “Diabiag” and “Slioch”. The Diabiag target has a purple hue in Mastcam imagery and appears to be relatively dust free, while the Slioch target is darker. The team could not find a suitable place to brush the dust away with a DRT activity since the local bedrock was extremely rough.

In addition to these contact science activities, multiple ChemCam observations were planned along with the Mastcam documentation images. These observations will complement the contact science activities. Over the next few days Curiosity will make its way to another location where we’ll try to drill again. Data from when Curiosity previously visited the site where we will attempt to drill again indicates that the rock might be a little softer than where we last tried to drill a few sols ago. In the next few sols, we’ll know more, but until then Curiosity will continue to characterize the diversity of the intriguing Vera Rubin Ridge.

Sol 2128 update by Ryan Anderson: In Search of Softer Rocks (31 July 2018)

On Sol 2128, Curiosity will continue toward our third potential drill site within the Pettegrove Point member of Vera Rubin Ridge, where we are hoping to find slightly softer rocks. The day will begin with ChemCam observations of the target “Slioch,” which was already analyzed by APXS, as well as the layered rock “Craignure Bay.” Mastcam will document both of these targets, using a small mosaic around Craignure Bay to capture images of some of the tilted rocks nearby as well. Then Navcam will do some atmospheric observations. After that, the rover will drive toward our next drill site and take some post-drive images. Navcam will do some more atmospheric measurements, and ChemCam will make an auto-targeted observation of the bedrock near the rover. We will finish off the plan with an 8-frame Navcam “movie” of the sky to look for clouds and measure the wind direction over Gale crater.

Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be close enough to do just a short bump to the drill site so we can try drilling again this weekend!