Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity Mastcam Left photo acquired on Sol 2230, November 14, 2018
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now in Sol 2232.

Reports Scott Guzewich, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the rover is on tap to use its Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite.

The plan called for delivery of a sample to SAM of the ground up rock from the Highfield drill hole.

Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite shown in this Curiosity Mastcam Left image, taken on Sol 2227, November 11, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Trickle down

“The rover will open one of its SAM inlet covers and the arm will be moved over to the top of it and then the drill bit will be reversed in a way that will trickle some finely-ground rock powder down into SAM,” Guzewich says.

“Then SAM will heat that rock to very high temperatures and measure the chemical compounds that make up Highfield. This is key to understanding what the Vera Rubin Ridge is made of and its formation history,” Guzewich adds.

Possible meteorite

While SAM activities are power intensive, scientists have planned additional work including Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) targeting the Highfield drill hole’s internal edges, some nearby bedrock (“Fraser Castle” and “Bridge of Don”), as well as a possible meteorite, “Little Todday.”

Curiosity Mastcam Right photo taken on Sol 2229, November 13, 2018

“We are also conducting numerous change detection images with Mastcam and [Mars Descent Imager] (MARDI) to monitor the motion of the nearby sand and dust on the surface,” Guzewich notes. Also on tap, the environmental science group has plans for two movies to monitor the increasing dust devil activity following this year’s global dust storm as well as atmospheric opacity above and within Gale Crater.