Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity Navcam Left B image taken on Sol 1480, October 4, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Now in Sol 1482, the Curiosity Mars rover drove another 115 feet (35 meters) on Sol 1480, stopping at a location with a layered bedrock exposure right in front of the rover.

“So the tactical planning team decided to take advantage of the touch and go option again,” reports Ken Herkenhoff of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Layered target

The robot’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) is taking pictures of the layered target “Cassongue” and of the rover wheels before the arm is stowed in preparation for another drive on Sol 1482.

Curiosity’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) and Mastcam will observe bedrock targets named “Coutada,” “Cuangar,” and “Cacuso,” explains Herkenhoff, and the Right Mastcam will acquire mosaics of more distant targets dubbed “Lucusse” and “Lumeje.”

Also, the Left Mastcam will be used to image the wheels on the right side of the rover and to extend the coverage of the terrain in the direction Curiosity’s handlers plan to

Curiosity Mastcam Right image taken on Sol 1480, October 4, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

drive.

Downlink priorities

“Because we don’t expect to receive as much data as usual in time for planning on Friday, the volume and downlink priorities of post-drive imaging data had to be carefully scrubbed,” Herkenhoff notes.

On Sol 1483, Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science (AEGIS) software will again be used to autonomously select a target for a ChemCam observation.

Curiosity road map for Mars:
Blue triangles mark waypoints investigated by Curiosity during the rover’s two-year prime mission and first two-year extended mission.
The Hematite Unit and Clay Unit are key destinations for the second two-year extension, through September 2018.
The base image for the map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
North is up. Bagnold Dunes form a band of dark, wind-blown material at the foot of Mount Sharp.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

In the distance: Murray Buttes

Also on tap is use of the rover’s Navcam to search for clouds. The robot’s Mastcam is scheduled to take an image of the rover deck to look for changes in the distribution of dust and other debris.

Lastly, Herkenhoff concludes, the rover’s Right Mastcam will take a look toward the east and acquire a 5-image mosaic of the Murray Buttes in the distance.

Planned rover activities are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.