Sol 963: Making a run for it

21 April 2015

After cruising through Artist’s Drive, Curiosity set her sights on the next pass, known as “Logan Pass.” However, the science team realized that there’s an interesting outcrop to west of “Logan Pass,” which may help us to understand how these rocks relate to the section that we investigated at the Pahrump Hills. So we decided to make a run for it, and take a quick trip over to “Logan’s Run” to image those rocks first.

The plan today is to drive further to the west, and to do some additional MAHLI wheel imaging to monitor wheel wear. Prior to the drive we’ll acquire ChemCam and Mastcam observations on the target “Apple” – a small rock of variable tones. After the drive, we’ll acquire standard post-drive imaging for context and future target selection. The plan also includes several Mastcam nighttime observations of Phobos and Deimos to investigate the opacity of the upper atmosphere and aerosol size.

By Lauren Edgar

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