Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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April 6th, 2023
Image credit: Mars Guy
“An exciting discovery for Perseverance,” says Mars Guy. For the first time in over four months, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has collected another rock sample intended for return to Earth. “But the process was different this time, in ways that show there’s something unexpected about this rock.”
Go to video at: https://youtu.be/itngpJjgATU
Image credit: Roscosmos
Russia’s Soyuz MS-23 has moved from the Poisk module to the Prichal module on the International Space Station. The operation performed manually by cosmonaut Sergei Prokopiev, with cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin and astronaut Francisco Rubio in the spacecraft. In the spring-summer of 2023, space walks are planned from the Poisk module.
Image credit: Christopher Morrison
NASA Awards Cutting-Edge Advanced Concepts
Go to: https://www.leonarddavid.com/36785-2/
Will it stay…will it go? SpaceX making progress for Starship/Super Heavy “orbital” launch try from Texas. Will FAA give approval license? From SpaceX: “Starship fully stacked at Starbase. Team is working towards a launch rehearsal next week followed by Starship’s first integrated flight test ~week later pending regulatory approval.”
Image credit: SpaceX
Posted in 
The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program has awarded six concepts to help shape air and space travel decades in the future. Each of the six fellows will receive up to $600,000 over two years to develop their concepts.
Introducing the new round of Phase II awards that funded these six researchers:
Image credit: Christopher Morrison
The Nyx Mission to Observe the Universe from Deep Space – Enabled by EmberCore, a High Specific Power Radioisotope Electric Propulsion System by Christopher Morrison, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation in Seattle.
Image credit: Darmindra Arumugam
Quantum Rydberg Radar for Surface, Topography, and Vegetation by Darmindra Arumugam, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Image credit: Steven Barrett
Silent, Solid-State Propulsion for Advanced Air Mobility Vehicles by Steven Barrett, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Image credit: Ronald Polidan
FarView Observatory – A Large, In-Situ Manufactured, Lunar Far Side Radio Array by Ronald Polidan, Lunar Resources, Inc. in Houston.
Image credit: Philip Lubin
Planetary Defense -The PI Approach by Philip Lubin, University of California, Santa Barbara, California.
Image credit: Lynn Rothschild
A Flexible, Personalized, On-Demand Astropharmacy by Lynn Rothschild, NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
For more information on NIAC, go to:
While space travel by private citizens is still evolving and making headlines, it seems likely commercial space travel by off-the-street astronauts could conceivably become more routine in the years ahead.
A new RAND report focuses on how and when the spaceflight industry should be regulated at a federal level.
Voluntary standards related to commercial spaceflight that could affect participant safety have been introduced, “but significant work remains,” the report notes.
Polaris Dawn crew members (left to right): Anna Menon, mission specialist and medical officer, Scott Poteet, mission pilot, Jared Isaacman, mission commander, and Sarah Gillis, mission specialist.
Image credit: Polaris Program/John Kraus
Five key factors
For one, the readiness of the commercial space industry for regulation, or for further development of voluntary consensus standards, does not only depend on the progress of adopting standards and meeting metrics.
The report explains that regulatory readiness depends also on five key factors:
— access to, and understanding of, the regulatory process;
— security of regulatory support;
— the effectiveness of the regulatory support for the technology;
— environmental effects, costs, and security issues related to the regulation;
— and the ability to pass the regulation.
To read this new RAND report — Assessing the Readiness for Human Commercial Spaceflight Safety Regulations – Charting a Trajectory from Revolutionary to Routine Travel” – go to:
Wait a minute!
Image credit: Barbara David
How to cut to the chase regarding reported Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) – now linked, for better or worse, to Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs)?
That’s at the underbelly of a recent paper authored by Harvard University’s Avi Loeb, conducted in partnership with Loeb’s Galileo Project and the newly established Department of Defense, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.
Image credit: Galileo Project/Avi Loeb
“We derive physical constraints on interpretations of ‘highly maneuverable’ Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) based on standard physics and known forms of matter and radiation,” notes the paper, published in “Draft Under Review” status on a Harvard website.
Interpretations of data
Claims of objects exceeding the transonic to supersonic range should be evaluated against the known physics of ionization, radar reflectivity, temperature, sonic booms, and fireballs, according to Loeb.
“All of which can more effectively and accurately bound the velocity, and hence drive the range calculation. This will, in turn, when matched with the specifics of the sensor, allow for better estimates of the size, shape, and mass of the object in question,” the paper concludes.
Shown at Congressional hearing, Video 1 2021 flyby movie showing a purported UAP.
Credit: Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The draft research paper, dated March 7, 2023, implies a “useful limit on observations of UAP which bound the hypothetical explanations and can support limitations on interpretations of data.”
What is distinctive is that the paper is authored by astrophysicist Loeb and Sean Kirkpatrick, Director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.
Comments and criticisms
The Loeb/Kirkpatrick paper “Physical Constraints on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” has spurred a variety of comments and criticisms.
Responding to the jabs, Loeb told Inside Outer Space:
“I am not trying to be popular, just speak the truth about reality which so far follows known physics to exquisite precision.”
Mick West, debunker, skeptic, writer.
Credit: Mick West/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Says Mick West, a noted debunker, skeptic, writer, UFO investigator, and former video game programmer: “Loeb and Kirkpatrick risk alienating the broader UFO community by excluding the possibility that a UFO might employ principles of physics that are, as yet, unknown to humans.”
“Insisting that visiting spacecraft must be understandable effectively debunks several famous UFO sightings reported to involve very high speed, and in particular, the Nimitz encounters,” West told Inside Outer Space. “It would also seem to exclude high-speed “transmedium” craft that supposedly transition from air to water travel without slowing down.”
West said that while Loeb and Kirkpatrick are likely correct, their paper has not been well received in certain saucer circles.
Artist’s concept of interstellar object1I/2017 U1 (‘Oumuamua) as it passed through the solar system after its discovery in October 2017. The aspect ratio of up to 10:1 is unlike that of any object seen in our own solar system. Image Credit: European Southern Observatory / M. Kornmesser
Interstellar interlopers
Robert Powell, executive board member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU), has read the yet-to-be-peer-reviewed draft of the paper, noting that the authors delve into those interstellar interlopers: meteor IM2 and that cosmic oddball named ‘Oumuamua.
The paper states a possible hypothesis: “Nevertheless, the coincidences between some orbital parameters of ‘Oumuamua and IM2 inspires us to consider the possibility that an artificial interstellar object could potentially be a parent craft that releases many small probes during its close passage to Earth, an operational construct not too dissimilar from NASA missions.”
Powell said that in his personal view, and not necessarily that of SCU’s, there’s nothing wrong with a hypothesis as it is simply a possible explanation for something that is observed.
Credit: Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU)
“Nonetheless, this is a hypothesis that surely stretches the imagination. A scientist may consider such a hypothesis and quickly drop it when the information that becomes available changes. But the media and the public have difficulty with that concept and what begins as a hypothesis is soon expressed as a fact or a likely fact.”
Important turning point
Powell said such a statement in the draft of an academic paper can result in media articles such as this recently published eye-catcher in Tell Me Best:
“Government Officials Say An Alien Mothership Is Close To Earth”
“The study of UAP is at an important turning point,” Powell adds. “The stigma related to the subject has been reduced. More and more scientists are becoming involved in investigating the subject. But in investigating UAP, unnecessary and provocative hypotheses should be avoided whenever possible,” he told Inside Outer Space.
To view the draft paper – “Physical Constraints on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” – go to:
Triggerfish contact lens with imbedded strain gauge to measure the shape change of the cornea is worn by Jared Isaacman, Polaris Dawn mission commander.
Image credit: Polaris Program
There are microgravity-induced changes to the human eye tagged as Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome, or SANS for visual brevity. This condition is considered a risk to human health in long-duration spaceflight.
Polaris Dawn crew members (left to right): Anna Menon, mission specialist and medical officer, Scott Poteet, mission pilot, Jared Isaacman, mission commander, and Sarah Gillis, mission specialist.
Image credit: Polaris Program/John Kraus
Later this year, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will hurl the Polaris Dawn mission of four crew members skyward for a privately-backed voyage of up to five days in Earth orbit. During their stay time circuiting our planet in a Crew Dragon capsule, the high-flying team is dedicating major time to probe health impacts on the body from their sojourn into space.
Little was known regarding vision in Earth orbit when Mercury astronaut, John Glenn, circuited the Earth in 1962. He gauged his visual status by reading an eye chart mounted on the instrument panel of his single-seat capsule.
Image credit: NASA
Mercury capsule instrument panel with eye charts.
Image credit: Dane Penland/Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (Used with permission)
Image credit: NASA
One of their medical tasks is specific to help unravel what’s behind SANS symptoms. It is a known, unknown issue, say researchers, a malady that includes swelling of the optic nerve, alteration in the shape of the eye itself, as well causing fuzziness to vision. Clearly, on any lengthy trek to Mars and back, being “blindsided” by blurry eyesight from SANS is not ideal.
For more information, go to my new Space.com article – “The eyes have it! Focus on microgravity’s impact on astronaut vision – Clearly, on any lengthy trek to space and back, being “blindsided” by blurry eyesight is not ideal – at:
https://www.space.com/microgravity-vision-effects-astronauts
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Shenzhou-15 crew carried out their third spacewalk late last week. The Thursday set of spacewalks had astronauts Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu work outside the Tiangong space facility, with Deng Qingming supporting his crew mates from inside the space station.
The spacewalking twosome returned safely to the Wentian lab module.
Meanwhile, the crew members for the Shenzhou-16 and the Shenzhou-17 piloted missions have been selected and are now undergoing training.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Returning in June
The orbiting Shenzhou-15 crew will return to Earth in June, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). The three-man crew has been living in orbit for four months since they docked with the space station on Nov. 30, 2022.
The Shenzhou-15 mission is completing the last stages of the space station’s construction and starting the first stage of its long-term goals and missions.
Image credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Thermoelectric converter
“The astronauts recently completed successful in-orbit tests for a free-piston Stirling thermoelectric converter with the comprehensive technical indicators such as the thermoelectric conversion efficiency reaching an advanced international level,” according to a China Central Television (CCTV) report.
“The Stirling thermoelectric converter is a new technology in spacecraft power supply and can efficiently convert thermal energy into electric energy, thus reducing a spacecraft’s dependence on solar energy,” adds CCTV. “The technology has broad application prospects for future human lunar and deep space exploration missions.”
Image credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Better-than-expected performance
The Stirling power converters, according to a CCTV report, were developed by Lanzhou Institute of Physics of China Academy of Space Technology, and were installed in the equipment cabinet for basic tests in the Mengtian lab module of China’s space station. Before the successful test, three in-orbit experiments have been carried out in the lab module.
“During the test, the device ran stably throughout the whole process and produced better-than-expected performance indicators, with its thermoelectric conversion efficiency reaching an advanced international level under the same isothermal ratio,” CCTV reports.
The Stirling thermoelectric converter can efficiently convert thermal energy into electric energy, thus reducing a spacecraft’s dependence on solar energy.
Image credit: Shenzhou-15 crew. CMSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrabe
Upcoming launches
In the offing, China will launch three further missions bound for the space station this year, including visits by the cargo craft Tianzhou-6 and the crew-carrying Shenzhou-16 and Shenzhou-17 spaceships.
The Tianzhou-6 supply ship has been transported to the Wenchang launch site in the southern province of Hainan for its scheduled launch in May.
Go to this CCTV video showing the latest spacewalk at:
Image credit: NASA
If NASA’s plan stays on the rails politically and dollar-wise, the United States is slated to “re-boot” the surface of the Moon no earlier than 2025.
That Artemis III mission is intended to be the first of many human missions to the Artemis Polar Exploration Zone – the region poleward of 84° South latitude. Selecting a landing site for Artemis III in that zone is a challenging task.
Great science awaits…and one potential surprise could be detecting life on the Moon.
Shown here is a rendering of 13 candidate landing regions for NASA’s Artemis III mission. Each region is approximately 9.3 by 9.3 miles (15 by 15 kilometers). A landing site is a location within those regions with an approximate 328-foot (100-meter) radius.
Image credit: NASA
Site selection
As now planned, Artemis III will enable the following:
— Roughly six days of surface operations;
— Return of valuable non-conditioned samples similar to Apollo 17 sample collection techniques used in December 1972 – when astronauts last visited the Moon;
— Up to four walking moonwalks by crew members of variable duration focused on sample collection and instrument emplacement, with a maximum distance from the lander of 1.2 miles (2 kilometers).
Now underway is active discussion centered on Artemis site selection process and the scientific value of the 13 Artemis III landing region candidates.
Image credit: NASA/Prabal Saxena
Surface conditions
There is potential resilience of microbial life to lunar south pole surface conditions, suggests Prabal Saxena, a planetary researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Saxena notes that today’s environment of the Moon has long been viewed as extremely hostile to surface life based upon perceived surface properties.
However, that outlook did not take into account the interplay between surface topography, surface roughness and the relatively small maximum elevation angle of the Sun at high latitudes, Saxena points out.
Cosmopolitan mesophiles
“Importantly, recent research on the survivability of microbes exposed to conditions like those on parts of the lunar surface indicate surprising resilience of numerous microorganisms to such conditions,” Saxena states in work to be presented at an upcoming science workshop on the Artemis III landing sites.
In this multi-temporal illumination map of the lunar south pole, Shackleton crater (19 km diameter) is in the center, the south pole is located approximately at 9 o’clock on its rim. The map was created from images from the camera aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Credits: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
“Using survivability data for relevant microbes and new, high resolution data that include previously unconsidered lunar properties from recent missions, we find that the lunar south pole may contain substantial surface niches that may be potentially habitable for a number of microorganisms,” Saxena observes, adding that these organisms can be tagged as “cosmopolitan mesophiles” and just as capable of surviving some lunar niches.
Valuable for Mars
As for the consequences for Artemis III crew exploration of the Moon, the fractional percentage of area that is potentially habitable to relevant microorganisms varies between the different Artemis III candidate sites.
That situation is currently being evaluated by Saxena and colleagues.
Image credit: NASA/MEPAG
“Both the ability to conduct astrobiological investigations and prevent or at least monitor forward contamination may make assessment of this fractional coverage an input in deciding between landing sites,” states Saxena.
Considerations for how to investigate a lunar site, if it is near to regions that may be potentially habitable niches, “should be taken into account for future site assessment and traverse planning,” Saxena concludes. “These means of planning and corresponding strategy, techniques and instrumentation that may be involved might be valuable for exploration of Mars as well.”
SpaceX Starlink satellites over Carson National Forest, New Mexico, photographed soon after launch.
Image credit: Mike Lewinsky/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
Given the advancing StarLink and OneWeb satellite constellations, as well as Amazon’s projected Project Kuiper internet network — and other initiatives, particularly from China — there is escalating worry by astronomers of being “blinded by the light” from a projected 400,000 recent and planned low Earth orbit satellites.
There’s a bounce back theme from some advocates of megaconstellations: What’s the worry? After all, any instrument or eye-piece time required to scrutinize the cosmos should all be done off-Earth in the first place.
What’s more, isn’t that why the pricy Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, and future space-based scopes, have been or will be rocketed off Earth in the first place? Get away from that soupy and fuzzy vision of the surrounding universe due to landlocked looking!
On location! James Webb Space Telescope.
Image credit: Northrop Grumman
A new tool is available to help de-fuzz astronomical imagery – but coping with satellite constellation flyovers that can foul telescopic observations appears to remain a global worry.
Photo bombing
Indeed, the cosmos would look a lot better if Earth’s atmosphere wasn’t photo bombing it all the time. Now researchers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and Tsinghua University in Beijing have unveiled a new strategy to improve ground-based telescope imagery.
“Before” image: A simulated image to match the parameters of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).
Image credit: Emma Alexander/Northwestern University
“After” image: Researchers used the AI algorithm to remove the simulated atmospheric blur, revealing the true-to-life image.
Image credit: Emma Alexander/Northwestern University
The technique involves the adaption and adoption of a well-known computer-vision algorithm used for sharpening photos and, for the first time, applied it to astronomical images from ground-based telescopes.
What’s involved here is training artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm on data simulated to match the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s imaging parameters. When that ambitious observatory opens next year, the AI tool will be instantly compatible.
Northwestern’s Emma Alexander explains that images are used for science. “By cleaning up images in the right way, we can get more accurate data. The algorithm removes the atmosphere computationally, enabling physicists to obtain better scientific measurements. At the end of the day, the images do look better as well.”
Image credit: Emma Alexander/Tianao Li
Alexander is the senior author of research just published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and an assistant professor of computer science at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering. Alexander’s prime focus: low-level, physics-based, bio-inspired artificial vision.
Highly anticipated data
Alexander and Tianao Li, an undergraduate in electrical engineering at Tsinghua University and a research intern in Alexander’s lab, combined an optimization algorithm with a deep-learning network trained on astronomical images.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, previously referred to as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).
Credit: The LSST Corporation (LSSTC)
Among the training images, the team included simulated data that matches the Rubin Observatory’s expected imaging parameters. The resulting tool produced images with 38.6% less error compared to classic methods for removing blur and 7.4% less error compared to modern methods, according to a Northwestern University press statement.
The Rubin Observatory officially opens next year. Its telescopes will begin a decade-long deep survey across a vast portion of the night sky. Because the researchers trained the new tool on data specifically designed to simulate Rubin’s upcoming images, the university statement adds, it will be able to help analyze the survey’s highly anticipated data.
For astronomers interested in using the tool, the open-source, user-friendly code and accompanying tutorials are available online: Go to: https://github.com/Lukeli0425/Galaxy-Deconv
For more information, go to – “Galaxy Image Deconvolution for Weak Gravitational Lensing with Unrolled Plug-and-Play ADMM” – at:
Wait a Minute! Image credit: Barbara David
Image credit: NASA
NASA is set next week to unveil the Artemis II crew that will sojourn around the Moon, now eyed for November 2024. The four-person team would make the trek secure in their Orion spacecraft – the first piloted spacecraft to travel to the Moon, or beyond low Earth orbit, since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
But there appears to be a tad more look-see at the results of the uncrewed Orion on its Artemis I flight last year. Orion’s heat shield took on the 25,000 miles per hour re-entry, but NASA and contractors are wrestling with the results.
Engineers and technicians conduct inspections of the heat shield on the Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft after splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11, 2022.
Image credit: NASA/Skip Williams
The heat shield features the same ablative material called AVCOAT used in Apollo lunar outings and return-to-Earth missions. However, the building process has changed, according to Lockheed Martin that fashioned Orion’s thermal protection system.
Timesaver
“Instead of having workers fill 300,000 honeycomb cells one by one with ablative material, then heat-cure the material and machine it to the proper shape, the team now manufactures AVCOAT blocks – just fewer than 200 – that are pre-machined to fit into their positions and bonded in place on the heat shield’s carbon fiber skin,” the aerospace firm’s website explains. That process is a timesaver in putting on the AVCOAT – about a quarter of the time.
Image credit: Lockheed Martin
As NASA stated, pre-Artemis 1 liftoff: “The primary goals for Artemis I are to demonstrate Orion’s systems in a spaceflight environment and ensure a safe re-entry, descent, splashdown, and recovery prior to the first flight with crew on Artemis II.”
So what’s up with the Orion heat shield and how concerned is NASA?
Heat shield hiccups
Inside Outer Space contacted the Orion program office at NASA Johnson Space Center for comment regarding the heat shield hiccups.
Completion of Avcoat block bonding on Artemis heat shield.
“During Artemis I post-flight inspection, engineers observed variations of Avcoat material across the appearance of Orion’s heat shield. Some areas of expected charred material ablated away differently than computer modeling and ground testing predicted, and there was slightly more liberation of the charred material during re-entry than anticipated,” the program office stated.
“We expect the material to ablate with the 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit the spacecraft encounters on a re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere, and to see charring of the material through a chemical reaction, but we didn’t expect the small pieces that came off, versus being ablated,” the NASA statements adds.
“We don’t know yet exactly how much was liberated, which is why we’re analyzing the data, but there was a healthy margin remaining of virgin Avcoat, and temperature data inside the cabin remained at expected levels, so if crew were on board they would not have been in danger,” explains the program office statement.
Artwork depicts Orion spacecraft plowing through Earth’s atmosphere at high speed.
Image credit: NASA
Dedicated investigation
What kind of efforts, testing, are underway to try to understand what happened?
NASA responded that there are 186 blocks of Avcoat and their team is looking at each block. “We have a dedicated investigation underway that includes planned testing, detailed analysis, extensive sampling of the heat shield, and review of data from sensors.”
Data was collected from images and videos from the Orion’s spacecraft’s re-entry. Those are being correlated with the heat shield sensors onboard Orion, “then looking at our computer models to see how we can understand what we experienced on re-entry,” the Orion program office said.
“We’ve extracted samples from the heat shield, which will be X-rayed, and we’re also getting a more precise understanding of how much Avcoat is still remaining on the heat shield—which is significant,” the NASA statement continues. “As we get all these pieces of information together, we’ll arrive at an assessment to determine what additional testing is needed in finding the root cause or to better understand the phenomenon.”
On Dec. 11, 2022, the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after a 25.5-day mission to the Moon.
Image Credit: NASA/James M. Blair
Avcoat changes?
Is it possible that changes in the Avcoat may be needed?
“It’s still too early in our testing and analysis to arrive at any potential recommendations or solutions that address additional char liberation,” NASA responded. “It’s possible the phenomenon may just [be] part of what the heat shield is, and what we would expect as we return from the Moon, but we’ll let the data inform us.”
Lastly, the NASA Orion program office stated: “We’ll continue to protect for variations that could happen during re-entry as we want to ensure we have significant margin against the various types of uncertainties that might occur as the spacecraft re-enters the atmosphere. Our teams want the confidence that we have the best heat shield possible to fly humans going forward.”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 3783, March 29, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater has just begun Sol 3784 duties.
For the robot, it has been a picture perfect Day…or to be more exact, a day perfect for taking pictures, reports Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, a planetary geologist at University of New Brunswick; Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
“Due to some delayed downlink of images, we didn’t receive all the information we needed in time to do contact science today,” notes O’Connell-Cooper, detailing Sol 3783-3784 activities.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 3783, March 29, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Strict timeline
“Although the data did eventually arrive, it was too late to allow us to get the arm out for contact science. Each planning day has a very strict timeline, in order to make our scheduled uplink time,” O’Connell-Cooper adds, which is Curiosity’s allotted time for using the Deep Space Network to get a team plan up to the rover.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 3783, March 29, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“Planning contact science targets takes most of the first two hours of work on any given day,” O’Connell-Cooper adds, “so the three hour delay before the data was processed would likely have resulted in us missing our uplink slot – a rare occurrence for the super efficient MSL [Mars Science Lab] team, and one we aim to avoid at all costs!”
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 3783, March 29, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Imaging day
Instead, researchers decided to make it an imaging day, and lean heavily on the Mastcam and Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) teams, characterizing the area around the rover and beyond.
Mastcam was slated to take several small mosaics (e.g., 2 rows of 2 images, or 2 rows of 4 images) and ChemCam will use its Remote Micro Imager (RMI). On the far right of the robot’s workspace, Mastcam will image “Tacuiquene,” a block with nodules and laminations, “which seems to be a float from along our future drive path, so we will get a taste of what is to come,” O’Connell-Cooper points out. “There are a lot of vein features in this area, so both ChemCam and Mastcam will be looking at these.”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 3783, March 29, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Raised veins
Close to the rover, ChemCam is using Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) to analyze some of these raised veins at “Jauaperi” which will also be imaged by Mastcam.
Just above this, Mastcam was set to image the strata or layers in the target “Cauame.” Further afield, Mastcam will image a large vein feature at “Los Azulitas” and reimage the veiny target “Cano Macareo” from a slightly different, closer perspective than the previous mosaic.
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image taken on Sol 3783, March 29, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“A small grey float “Cerra Duida” will get the most attention today – ChemCam will image this with the RMI (which gets very detailed images from a distance), take a “passive” measurement (i.e., not using the LIBS laser), and Mastcam will take a multispectral image of the target,” O’Connell-Cooper reports. “We have analyzed quite a few of these grey floats in recent weeks, and the team is interested in learning more about them.”
Curiosity Rear Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B image acquired on Sol 3783, March 29, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Slow going
A recent drive by the rover was to be a relatively short one of 65 feet (20 meters or so).
“The driving in this area is slow going. Rather than regular flat bedrock, we are facing rocks sticking out from sand patches with float stones loose on the surface. Some of the bedrock slabs here also move when driven on, such as today’s Mastcam target “Nosan Mountain” – providing quite the obstacle course for the rover planners to pick through,” O’Connell-Cooper concludes.
