Curiosity Navcam Right B image taken on April 23 showing the newest “Kilmarie” drill hole on the right, less than one meter away from the “Aberlady” drill hole on the left.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now carrying out Sol 2390 duties.

Curiosity’s first night of analysis of the recently obtained “Kilmarie” drill sample has shown there’s enough material to study. The robot is using its Chemistry & Mineralogy X-Ray Diffraction/X-Ray Fluorescence Instrument (CheMin) to assess the new sample.

Curiosity Front Hazcam Right B image taken on Sol 2389, April 26, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“Less than 40 minutes after downlink, we got confirmation from the CheMin team that they did indeed receive enough material,” reports Lucy Thompson, a planetary geologist at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.

“This meant that we could proceed with the two highest priority activities in the plan; the second night of CheMin analysis of the Kilmarie drill sample, Thompson adds, and a Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite preconditioning activity in preparation for delivery of sample for a SAM Evolved Gas Analysis (EGA) experiment in the coming week’s plan.

Curiosity ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager photo taken on Sol 2389, April 26, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL

Rock sample clues

“The CheMin instrument informs us of the mineralogy of the sample, which can give us clues about the source of the rock sample, the conditions under which it formed and any subsequent alteration events,” Thompson explains. “It will be interesting to compare the mineralogy of Kilmarie with the nearby ‘Aberlady’ drill hole.”

Thompson adds that the SAM EGA experiment will measure the composition of the different gases evolved at different temperatures as the sample is heated in the SAM oven.

This complements the CheMin data and can help refine the mineralogy and tell us about the amount and nature of various minerals.

Curiosity Rear Hazcam Left B image taken on Sol 2389, April 26, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Clay mineral

Mars scientists are particularly interested in whether this sample from the ‘Clay-Bearing Unit,’ Glen Torridon area, does in fact contain clay (as have the majority of drilled samples), and if it does, how much is present and what type of clay mineral is it?

The science team also planned ChemCam Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS) on four rock targets (“Mile End,” “Tillyfourie,” “Tillybrachty” and “Tillymorgan”) in the vicinity of the drill hole to continue to monitor compositional variation between relatively coherent and more rubbly bedrock than has been observed within Glen Torridon.

Curiosity Navcam Right B image taken on Sol 2389, April 26, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Different colored strata

“We will also acquire Mastcam support imaging for the ChemCam targets as well as a large multispectral mosaic in the direction of the “Greenheugh Pediment” and “Sulfate-Bearing Unit” that we will eventually drive to,” Thompson reports. “The multispectral mosaic will help to highlight possible spectral and mineralogical differences between the different colored strata we observe in this area.”

Curiosity researchers recently undertook a busy planning day for environmental observations with three science blocks devoted to these activities.

A ChemCam passive sky measurement was included to look at water vapor and aerosols in the atmosphere above Curiosity, as well as Mastcam tau observations to measure the atmospheric opacity and a large Navcam dust devil survey.

Curiosity Navcam Right B image taken on Sol 2389, April 26, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Ongoing campaign

Navcam zenith observations were also planned as part of the ongoing campaign to monitor martian clouds, Thompson says. Standard background Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) activities monitor the daily martian weather and also continue to monitor the radiation environment with Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) and the abundance and distribution of hydrogen and hydroxide-bearing materials within the subsurface with Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) passive activities.

Curiosity Navcam Right B image taken on Sol 2389, April 26, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mars researchers have to wait to use the robot’s arm, and Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and APXS on the end of the arm, “until after we have dumped the Kilmarie drill fines from the drill bit assembly,” Thompson adds. “This does not occur until the SAM and CheMin instrument teams confirm that they do not require any more sample. Both the MAHLI and APXS teams eagerly await the chance to analyze the drill fines from this latest hole on Mars.”

Curiosity Navcam Right B image taken on Sol 2389, April 26, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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