Sol 1030: Bumping to Missoula

29 June 2015

Curiosity is still investigating the contact between the Pahrump and Stimson units. Over the weekend, Curiosity acquired MAHLI images on a coarse-grained rock named “Big Arm” (above). The goal today is to characterize some of the veins that occur above and below the contact, and then bump towards a target named “Missoula” to assess the contact at that location.

The plan today includes ChemCam observations of vein targets named “Lemhi” and “Lowary” corresponding to high and low targets above and below the contact. We will also acquire Mastcam images of the vein targets using all of the camera filters. After a short drive to reposition the rover in front of “Missoula,” we’ll take some Navcam and Mastcam images to prepare for contact science tomorrow. The plan also includes a Navcam cloud movie to monitor the atmosphere. I was the GSTL today and Ken Herkenhoff was the SOWG Chair, so it was a busy day of rover operations here at the USGS!

By Lauren Edgar



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