Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity Navcam Left B image taken on Sol 1727, June 15, 2017.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Now in Sol 1728, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover completed a busy day of contact science yesterday, reports Rachel Kronyak, a planetary geologist at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. The plan now is dedicated towards remote science and driving.

“Fernald Point” as imaged by Curiosity Mars rover using Navcam Right B on Sol 1727, June 15, 2017.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Fernald Point

A suite of Mastcam images for Curiosity to take included mosaics of “Preble Cove” and “Fernald Point”, some nice blocks of the Murray formation just in front of the rover.

Also on tap is snagging a few images of “Freeman Ridge” to follow up on a multispectral observation.

Long distance eye of ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager. Photo acquired on Sol 1727, June 15, 2017.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL

Drive ahead

The plan includes standard Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) and Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) observations.

Mastcam Left image taken on Sol 1726, June 14, 2017.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

“We’ll then continue driving towards Vera Rubin Ridge,” Kronyak adds, “and take some post-drive images to set ourselves up for an exciting weekend of more remote and contact science!”