By 
June 23rd, 2020
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 2800, June 22, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has just started performing Sol 2802 duties.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 2800, June 22, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Reports Scott Guzewich, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland: “Bloodstone Hill continued to present a challenge to us over the weekend, when our second attempt to reach an ideal spot for contact science failed. The hill is steep and rocky, making it harder to gain traction.”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 2800, June 22, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
But ultimately, the sulfate unit is more of a priority to the science team, so the rover will be leaving Bloodstone Hill behind and continuing its journey.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 2800, June 22, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Current workspace
Recently, discussion centered on whether to try again or use the bedrock that was available in the current workspace for contact science.
After finding that the robot’s position was stable for contact science, quickly identified was a suitable location for analysis by the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI).
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Peak season
Beyond the contact science, there’s a busy plan scripted with three Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) targets and a large Mastcam mosaic of the layers in Bloodstone Hill, notes Guzewich
Also on tap is a dust devil movie and two images of the crater rim to monitor dust in the atmosphere.
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B image taken on Sol 2801, June 23, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“We’re seeing lots of dust devil activity lately,” Guzewich concludes, “as we’re in the peak season for them on Mars and also seem to be near an area that is conducive for their formation.”
New road map
This map shows the route driven by NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity through the 2800 Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission on Mars (June 22, 2020).
Numbering of the dots along the line indicate the sol number of each drive. North is up. The scale bar is 1 kilometer (~0.62 mile).
From Sol 2797 to Sol 2800, Curiosity had driven a straight line distance of about 7.63 feet (2.33 meters), bringing the rover’s total odometry for the mission to 14.07 miles (22.65 kilometers).
The base image from the map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera (HiRISE) in NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 2800, June 22, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 2800, June 22, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Posted in Space News
