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October 17th, 2019
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image acquired on Sol 2557, October 16, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2558 tasks.
The rover has made a wheel scuff at “Culbin Sands,” reports Fred Calef, a planetary geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Curiosity purposely ran over a megaripple (fine grained sandy ripple with a coarser pebble coating), Calef notes, to create a “scuff” which churned up and bisected the feature to observe any layering or material within.
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 2558, October 17, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Ripple inspection
The rover science team chose to inspect the interior of the wheel track scuff and the original undisturbed ripple surface.
Curiosity’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) targeted “Sandwood Bay,” the fine-grained, disturbed scuff wall and “Glensanda,” the coarser grained ripple flank, along with documentation Mastcam color imaging.
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 2557, October 16, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Signature of the sand
Calef adds that rover plans call for it to exercise its arm and explore the chemical signature of the sand with an APXS (Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer) measurement over the ripple crest called “High Plains.”
Curiosity Right Navigation Camera B image acquired on Sol 2557, October 16, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Right Navigation Camera B image acquired on Sol 2557, October 16, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Right Navigation Camera B image taken on Sol 2557, October 16, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
To investigate the grain size and angularity, MAHLI (Mars Hand Lens Imager) photography is planned, at various heights, to cover High Plains as well as “Burrowgate” in the scuff and “Corsewall,” along the scuff wall.
Lastly, Calef concludes, a Mastcam mosaic will cover this ripply area, dubbed “Culbin Sands,” in color imaging.
Posted in Space News
