Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 2700, March 11, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2700 duties.

Curiosity Front Hazard Left B Avoidance Camera image taken on Sol 2699, March 10, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The current plan calls for the major task of carrying out a science campaign investigating the Greenheugh Pediment, reports Scott Guzewich, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

That plan slated the task of taking a large Mastcam stereo mosaic of the pediment capping unit and the distant Gediz Vallis ridge.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 2699, March 10, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

New drive decision

“This large mosaic will help link the patterns seen from orbit with what we see on the ground and help us understand how the pediment and Gediz Vallis formed and what their relative ages are compared to the rest of the features we’ve explored,” Guzewich explains.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 2700, March 11, 2020.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

After taking that mosaic and a Navcam dust devil survey — the Greenheugh Pediment also appears to be particularly prone to dust devils – the plan calls for making a short drive to the west to reach a 3rd stop on the current science campaign.

“After evaluating that location later this week, we’ll decide which spot we’ll want to drill,” Guzewich concludes.

Curiosity Left Navigation Camera Sol 2698, March 9, 2020.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech