Sol 1067: Bumping to Missoula… sound familiar?

6 August 2015

With a familiar blog title, I report that in today’s plan we’re bumping towards the Missoula outcrop. On Sol 1066 Curiosity drove ~ 25 m back toward Missoula, but we still have a little further to go. However, the science team took advantage of our current position to collect some additional data on the Stimson unit (shown in the above Navcam image).

Today’s plan includes ChemCam and Mastcam observations of the targets “Dixon” and “Doney” to assess the chemistry in different parts of the Stimson unit. We’ll also acquire a Mastcam mosaic to characterize the terrain that DAN sampled. Then Curiosity will perform several environmental monitoring activities, including a ChemCam passive sky observation, a Mastcam tau, and a Navcam cloud movie, to understand the chemistry and opacity of the atmosphere and search for clouds. Curiosity will then drive towards Missoula, and we’ll acquire post-drive imaging to prepare for targeted science over the weekend. The terrain might look the same, but I’m excited by the additional science that we can accomplish here!

By Lauren Edgar

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