By 
April 23rd, 2020
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image taken on Sol 2741, April 22, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now carrying out Sol 2742 tasks.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 274, April 22, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 274, April 22, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity is ready to drive again, reports Abigail Fraeman, a planetary geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The main activity in a two sol plan – Sols 2742-2743 — will be a drive of roughly 213 feet (65-meters) to the north/north east that skirts nearby “Tower butte.”
“The drive is slated to occur in the early afternoon of the first sol of the plan,” Fraeman adds. Before the drive, Mars scientists will collect a little more remote sensing data of the area around the robot, including Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) observations of targets named “Salen,” “Crossbill,” and “Burg,” as well as a Remote Micro Imager (RMI) telescope mosaic of an area named “Uphall.”
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera RMI photo taken on Sol 2741, April 22, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera RMI photo taken on Sol 2741, April 22, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
“Mastcam will image the ChemCam targets and also take pictures of the Sun and crater rim, which will give the team information about current atmospheric conditions,” Fraeman explains. “All of the science on the second sol of the plan happens after the drive, so we will take untargeted observations that include a clast survey, ChemCam autonomously targeted observation using the [Autonomous Exploration for Gathering of Increased Science] (AEGIS) software, and Navcam images to further characterize the atmosphere and also search for dust devils.”
“It feels great to be hitting the Martian road once again, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what’s around the bend,” Fraeman concludes.
Curiosity Mast Camera Left photo taken on Sol 2740, April 21, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity Mast Camera Right image acquired on Sol 2740, April 21, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity Mast Camera Right image acquired on Sol 2740, April 21, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity Mast Camera Right image acquired on Sol 2740, April 21, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
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