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October 20th, 2016
Curiosity Mastcam Right image taken on Sol 1494, October 19, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
The NASA Curiosity Mars rover is now in Sol 1496.
New imagery shows the rover carrying out drilling duties on Mars.
There is also new news from the Curiosity Mars rover: a follow-up image taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) showed that the Quela dump pile had been moved by the wind again!
Windblown sand and dust
Reports Ken Herkenhoff of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona:
“The MAHLI team is concerned that windblown sand and dust might damage or contaminate the camera’s optics, so they decided to open the MAHLI dust cover only for images taken from 25 centimeters or more above the surface.”
Curiosity MAHLI image taken on October 20, 2016, Sol 1495. The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) is located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
That said, Herkenhoff noes, there are no concerns and a full drill hole was planned at Sebina on Sol 1495, with close-up MAHLI images taken through the dust cover window.
Drill hole imagery
As usual, the other Curiosity cameras will take images of the drill hole after the arm is moved out of the way.
The drill sample will then be processed and transferred to the scoop for inspection by the rover’s Left Mastcam.
“It’s a full plan that again requires significant power, but the tactical team was able to squeeze in a few change- detection images to watch for further changes in the dump pile,” Herkenhoff adds.
Posted in Space News
