Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity’s location on Sol 3436. Distance driven to this period if 17.09 miles/27.5 kilometers
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3437 duties.

The robot recently drove to a new workspace, one that was partially explored previously on Sol 3417, reports Ashley Stroupe, a mission operations engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image taken on Sol 3436, April 6, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Curiosity activities included placing the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) on a smooth bedrock target, “Broo,” to contrast with the rougher target, Knott, that was looked at before. “Fortunately, this was a simpler activity for the rover planners than some of our other workspaces recently,” Stroupe notes.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3436, April 6, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Arm on target

“While the APXS integrates on Broo, Curiosity will also be doing some imaging and using the laser. With the arm placed down on the target, we needed to point our cameras at other places,” Stroupe adds.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3436, April 6, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“Blue Mull,” which is another target in the workspace similar to Broo, will be examined by Mastcam and the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and the rover’s Remote Micro-Imager (RMI).

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3436, April 6, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“We also will look at some targets outside the workspace, including a previous set of rocks called “Burnfoot,” which we previously imaged from another angle, and a rock named “Da Haaf” that we may have broken under our wheels when driving over it,” Stroupe points out.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera images acquired on Sol 3436, April 6, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Vertical exposure with layers

Also, a new plan calls for extending the past imaging of the Tighnabruaich rock cluster and mosaic of the nearby crater. “Finally, we image Youkil Quarry target,” Stroupe adds, “which shows a nice vertical exposure with layers, from a different angle. Lastly, we are doing some imaging to search for dust devils with Mastcam and Navcam.”

After the imaging and APXS are complete, the plan has taking Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) images of the Broo target and then stowing the arm.

Rover planners scripted a recent drive that continues to have Curiosity wind around difficult terrain. “We are looking forward to when we have finished returning to these prior locations and can move on to new vistas, Stroupe reports.