Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3738, February 10, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3740 duties.

Rover investigators are working through the best strategy for new drilling – that’s the report from Abigail Fraeman, a planetary geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Researchers are collecting additional contact science and remote sensing data from around the future Dinira drill target.

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3739, February 11, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Flat area

“Fortunately, there’s no shortage of interesting things to look at from our current position, so the science team had lots of fun deciding on what rocks to observe,” Fraeman notes.

The plan calls for gathering composition and fine scale texture data on a flat area near Dinira by using the Dust Removal Tool, the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and the robot’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on a target named “Yakarinta.”

Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 3739, February 12, 2023
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

“We’ll also take the opportunity to learn more about the resistant features on the top of this rock, using APXS and MAHLI on a target named ‘Itu’ as well as a ChemCam [Chemistry and Camera] observation of a target called ‘Los Caracoles.’”

Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 3739, February 12, 2023
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Rare opportunity

“A nearby block that was churned up by the rover’s wheels gives us a rare opportunity to see a freshly exposed face of the Marker Band rocks, so we’ll take advantage by collecting a ChemCam and MAHLI observation of this rock on targets named ‘Macuanatapurucuara’ and ‘Uraricaá’ respectively,” Fraeman reports. Also on tap is use of ChemCam to observe a nearby block named “El Pato,” and Mastcam will acquire lots of mosaics of the surrounding area.

Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 3739, Febuary 11, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL

Looking up

“Curiosity will additionally be looking up several times this weekend as ‘noctilucent cloud season’ has returned to Gale crater! Noctilucent (Latin for “night shining”) clouds light up right around sunset, and we first found them several years ago forming very high in the sky during the early winter months at Gale crater,” Fraeman notes.

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera images taken on Sol 3737 February 10, 2023
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“These clouds are likely made of carbon dioxide ice,” Fraeman concludes, “and we’ll be monitoring them for the next few weeks. We have already caught some great images this season!”