Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity Front Hazcam Left B image acquired on Sol 2120, July 24, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now carrying out Sol 2120 tasks.

Reports Abigail Fraeman, a planetary geologist for NASA/JPL in Pasadena, California: “A weekend drive completed successfully and we have our next intended drill target attempt in the rover workspace.”

Curiosity Navcam Left B photo taken on Sol 2120, July 24, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Pitch and roll

However, Fraeman adds, a problem has cropped up. The combination of the rover’s pitch and roll makes future delivery of a drilled sample to the rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite via the new feed extended sample transfer (FEST) method impossible in the robot’s current orientation.

The plan has the rover making a “scooch” to put it in a more favorable position for drill sample delivery activities, Fraeman explains.

This small bump pushes Curiosity into a good drill position.

“We also managed to get some science in before the bump,” Fraeman points out.

Curiosity Mastcam Left image taken on Sol 2119, July 23, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Gauging dust fall

The plan calls for use of the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to photograph “Sgurr of Eigg,” a contact science target from almost 120 sols ago. Doing so allows scientists to gauge how much dust has deposited on it since the rover used its Dust Removal Tool (DRT) on the target.

Also planned Fraeman adds, is taking Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) passive spectra from another familiar target, “Appin,” and then a Mastcam multispectral observation of both Sgurr of Eigg and Appin.

Curiosity Mastcam Left image acquired on Sol 2119, July 23, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

“We’ll finish out the morning science block with a Navcam dust devil survey and get some additional environmental science monitoring in the afternoon, including a tau observation and image of the crater rim to the north,” Fraeman concludes.