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NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars is just wrapping up Sol 1528 duties.

Given a recent rover drive of roughly 52 feet (16 meters), that gives the robot a total drive distance to just over 9.3 miles (15 kilometers) since it landed in August 2012.

Keep in mind that I have been told a human field geologist would click off that mileage in about a day’s time!

That said, Curiosity’s weekend drive has put the robot in place for a new drill target: “Precipice.”

Holiday weekend plan

“We have a three sol plan…as we head into the long holiday weekend and prepare for drilling next week,” reports Ryan Anderson, a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.

On Sol 1528, Mastcam was slated to take a 3×10 mosaic to provide context for the drill site, followed by Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) images of the drill bit and a Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) twilight image of the ground beneath the rover.

Look for dust devils

On the following sol, Anderson notes that the robot’s Navcam and Mastcam are scheduled to start the day with a set of atmospheric observations to watch for dust devils and measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere.

Following that, ChemCam has a passive sky observation, followed by active measurements of the targets “Thomas Bay,” “The Anvil,” and “The Ovens.”

Curiosity’s Mastcam will then have a change detection observation on the targets “Hulls Cove” and “Big Heath” – along with documentation of the ChemCam targets, including the autonomous software-selected surface target from sol 1526.

Environmental data gathering

The rover’s Mastcam and Navcam are then slated to repeat some of the atmospheric observations from the morning.

“In contrast to our busy Sol 1529, sol 1530 will be relatively quiet,” Anderson adds, with a focus on downlinking data and normal background data collection from the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) and the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) device.

Road map

A new map has been posted showing Curiosity’s traverse through Sol 1526.

The map shows the route driven by NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity through the 1526 Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission on Mars as of November 21, 2016.

Numbering of the dots along the line indicate the sol number of each drive. North is up.

The scale bar is one kilometer (roughly 0.62 mile).

From Sol 1521 to Sol 1526, Curiosity had driven a straight line distance of about 29.98 feet (9.14 meters), bringing the rover’s total odometry for the mission to 9.33 miles (15.01 kilometers).

New research is not only advancing our understanding about Mars’ history but has identified a possible resource for future expeditionary crews to the Red Planet.

Thanks to hundreds of overhead passes with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument, data accumulated indicates that about as much water as the volume of Lake Superior lies in a thick layer beneath a portion of Utopia Planitia.

Deposit thickness

According to a statement from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory released today:

The deposit is more extensive in area than the state of New Mexico.

The deposit ranges in thickness from about 260 feet (80 meters) to about 560 feet (170 meters), with a composition that’s 50 to 85 percent water ice, mixed with dust or larger rocky particles.

A team of scientists led by The University of Texas at Austin made the subsurface find using data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Plains of paradise

By the way, the name Utopia Planitia translates loosely as the “plains of paradise.”

The newly surveyed ice deposit spans latitudes from 39 to 49 degrees within the plains. It represents less than one percent of all known water ice on Mars, but it more than doubles the volume of thick, buried ice sheets known in the northern plains.

Ice deposits close to the surface are being considered as a resource for astronauts. However, far more work will be needed to appreciate the quality of the ice deposits, including the types of machinery to extract and successfully process this resource.

Additionally, plans are now being blueprinted for a future Mars orbiter that totes a more powerful radar system. This orbiter, perhaps developed as an international project, would identify global resources on the red planet useful for a sustained humans-on-Mars effort.

Joe Levy of the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, a co-author of the new study, explained in a press statement:

“The ice deposits in Utopia Planitia aren’t just an exploration resource. They’re also one of the most accessible climate change records on Mars,” he said. “We don’t understand fully why ice has built up in some areas of the Martian surface and not in others. Sampling and using this ice with a future mission could help keep astronauts alive, while also helping them unlock the secrets of Martian ice ages.”

MRO’s SHARAD

SHARAD is one of six science instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which began its prime science phase 10 years ago this month.

The Italian Space Agency provided the SHARAD instrument and Sapienza University of Rome leads its operations. The Planetary Science Institute, based in Tucson, Arizona, leads U.S. involvement in SHARAD. JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, manages the orbiter mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver built the spacecraft and supports its operations.

For the research paper carried in the journal Geophysical Research Letters go to:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016GL070138/full

The release from the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, go to:

https://news.utexas.edu/2016/11/22/mars-ice-deposit-holds-as-much-water-as-lake-superior

 

 

 

Note: As reported earlier by Inside Outer Space, there are some intriguing and comparative observations on Earth and Mars and the possible discovery of past life on the Red Planet.

Here is a story from Arizona State University’s (ASU) School of Earth and Space Exploration written by ASU’s Robert Burnham dated November 17, 2016.

Finger-like structures

Two geo-scientists at Arizona State University have made a discovery among hot springs in Chile that may spur scientists to revisit a location on Mars explored several years ago by NASA’s Spirit rover. The discovery involves finger-like structures that form in the hot spring deposits by processes that combine biological and non-biological activity.

The Chilean hot springs are at a place called El Tatio and lie at the edge of the extremely dry Atacama Desert, one of the best “Mars analog” sites on Earth.

Biosignatures

Co-authors Steve Ruff and Jack Farmer, of ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, report that El Tatio produces silica deposits with structures influenced by living organisms that appear nearly identical to those found eight years ago by Spirit in Gusev Crater on Mars. Their report was recently published by Nature Communications.

The question naturally arises whether what Spirit found on Mars might also have been influenced by life.

“Mars exploration has reached a stage where we can start looking for ‘biosignatures’,” says lead author Ruff. Biosignatures are naturally occurring traces that indicate the presence of life, either today or in the past.

On Earth fossils are an everyday example of a biosignature of past life. But biosignatures can take more subtle forms such as organic molecules trapped in rocks. Biosignatures can also include physical structures such as compacted mats of microorganisms called stromatolites, found in various environments on Earth.

No lander or rover on Mars has yet detected any fossils. So scientists assume that any Martian biosignature would be small — think microscopic — and difficult to identify, let alone even find, on a planet with as much surface area as all of Earth’s land areas.

Roaming the hills

In 2007, NASA’s rover Spirit was exploring next to an eroded deposit of volcanic ash dubbed Home Plate in the Columbia Hills of Gusev Crater on Mars.

The rover’s right front wheel motor had failed, and as the rover dragged the stuck wheel like a plow across the ground, it uncovered a rich deposit of pure silica surrounded by outcrops also rich in silica. This is a mineral commonly found in hot springs and geysers like those that Yellowstone National Park is famous for.

Ruff was one of the scientists who identified the silica mineral and, along with Farmer, published observations supporting a hot spring origin. But the unusual nodular and fingerlike structures of the silica outcrops next to Home Plate were poorly understood.

Looking for similarities

Several years later, Ruff learned about the El Tatio hot springs from a scientific journal. The hot springs are among the highest known active thermal springs on Earth (over 14,000 feet). At night, even in summer, temperatures at El Tatio often drop below freezing, and by day lots of ultraviolet light from the Sun comes through the thin, dry air. This makes El Tatio probably the best terrestrial analog for ancient Martian hot springs.

“We went to El Tatio looking for comparisons with the features found by Spirit at Home Plate,” says Ruff. “Our results show that the conditions at El Tatio produce silica deposits with characteristics that are among the most Mars-like of any silica deposits on Earth.”

These characteristics compare favorably with the Martian Home Plate silica outcrops, Ruff explains. “The fact that microbes play a role in producing the distinctive silica structures at El Tatio raises the possibility that the Martian silica structures formed in a comparable manner — in other words with the help of organisms that were alive at the time.”

Next rover

NASA has plans to send a new rover to Mars in 2020. The yet-unnamed rover will be similar in size and power to the Curiosity rover, currently exploring Gale Crater. But the new rover will have more advanced instruments and the ability to collect and cache samples for later retrieval.

So where should the 2020 rover go?

As NASA did with Curiosity, it has held a series of workshops over several years where Mars scientists present their best case for one landing site or another. At the end of each workshop, candidate sites are ranked according to their fitness in regard to certain qualities. These include geological setting, potential for preserving biosignatures, and quality of returned samples.

Currently the Columbia Hills/Home Plate site in Gusev Crater stands number two on the list of eight candidates. It’s second only to an ancient lakebed in Jezero Crater on the northwest edge of Isidis Planitia, an old impact basin. The next site selection workshop is scheduled for February 2017, with plans to cut the list down to a “Final Four.”

Although returning to Gusev’s Columbia Hills and Home Plate would rule out exploring a completely new area of Mars — which many scientists would like to do — Ruff and Farmer are hopeful that the site’s chances are quite good.

“This is a known hydrothermal deposit,” says Ruff. “We know exactly where to land and where to go collect samples. And the silica structures found by Spirit meet the definition of a potential biosignature.”

 

Space junk…a menacing and growing environmental worry.

Now a unique art project reveals the world of space junk, making it personal, visible and audible.

Called Adrift, this UK project takes the form of an interactive experience, a documentary film, as well as a listen-up sound experience.

 

Adopt a chunk of junk

A trio of relics that are emblematic of orbital debris can be “adopted” by participants:

• A U.S. Vanguard satellite: “I circle Earth every 130 minutes. I will continue to orbit above you for the next 240 years.”

• Suitsat: “I was pushed out into Space in 2006 by astronauts on the International Space Station”

• Fengyun: A Chinese piece of space junk “from the worst space debris event of all time. Go. Me.”

 

 

Sound track

Adrift has been created by film maker Cath Le Couteur and Nick Ryan, an audio specialist, sound designer, composer and artist. Adding to the mix of team members is scientific advisor Hugh Lewis, a space debris expert from the University of Southampton.

Part of the Adrift multi-sensory experience is Ryan’s “Machine 9” – a handcrafted electromechanical sound instrument that tracks the positions of 27,000 pieces of space junk, transforming them into sound, in real time, as they pass overhead.

The launch of Adrift took place this month, headed for its opening next year at Hackney House in London.

For more information on the three-part Adrift initiative that includes an informative documentary video, go to:

http://www.projectadrift.co.uk/

 

Now in Sol 1525, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is wheeling toward a new drill site.

Making use of the rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) some striking images have been acquired of an outcrop called “Seawall.”

According to Lauren Edgar, a research geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona, the current plan is focused on finishing robot investigation at “Sutton Island,” and then driving towards the next drill target, roughly 30 feet (9 meters) away.

Bedrock composition

Also on tap are Navcam and Mastcam observations by the rover to monitor the opacity of the atmosphere and search for clouds.

Then the schedule includes Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) observations of “Ironbound Island” and “Goat Trail” to assess the composition of the bedrock. Furthermore, the plan also includes several Mastcam mosaics to characterize the geometry of this deposit and document its sedimentary structures.

Curiosity is also set to acquire MAHLI images of “Ironbound Island” to characterize the more typical Murray bedrock in this area, followed by an overnight Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) integration on the same target, Edgar adds.

Systematic campaign

The weekend plan also has Curiosity drive toward the next drill target “as we continue our systematic campaign of sampling the Murray formation,” Edgar points out.

“After the drive we’ll take post-drive imaging, including workspace imaging,” Edgar notes, “to prepare for upcoming contact science and characterizing the intended drill site.”

Look for methane

Lastly, a ChemCam’s Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science (AEGIS) software is to be utilized. In addition to all of these activities, the rover will perform a Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite atmospheric observation to look for methane.

Concludes Edgar: “Quite the weekend for Curiosity!”

The crew of Shenzhou-11, following a 33-day space trek, returned safely to Earth on November 18^th.

Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong landed safely in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Friday.

Recovery teams

As viewed on CCTV, recovery of the crew took longer than expected due to spacecraft touchdown in a different spot than where ground teams were pre-positioned. Recovery personnel found the capsule in a sideways position.

The returning space travelers opened the capsule’s hatch by themselves after the reentry module landed. According to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, the return capsule was found by the ground search team in the main landing area.

Longest mission to date

Shenzhou-11 was China’s sixth manned spacecraft, and also the country’s longest mission to date. After the Shenzhou-11 liftoff on October 17, the spacecraft docked two days later with China’s Tiangong-2 space lab. The two astronauts lived and worked in the lab for 30 days.

Chinese space officials hailed the mission as a key step toward China’s aim of building a permanently crewed space station in the 2020s.

Space station work ahead

As reported by CCTV-Plus, the core module of China’s space station is expected to be launched around 2018, and the space station will start full service around 2022, with an initial designed service lifespan of at least 10 years.

That larger orbiting complex will accommodate three to six astronauts for space flights up to one year.

The Tiangong-2 space lab remains operating in orbit following Shenzhou-11’s departure. China’s first cargo spacecraft — Tianzhou-1– is scheduled to be launched in April 2017, docking with the space lab in an effort to certify in-space refueling technology.

Declared success

Following the Shenzhou-11 landing, Zhang Youxia, commander-in-chief of China’s manned space program declared: “According to a report from the main landing site headquarters, the return module of spacecraft Shenzhou-11 has landed safely. The two astronauts are in good physical conditions. Now I announce that the manned mission of Tiangong-2 and Shenzhou-11 is a complete success.”

That announcement was followed by Zhang Gaoli, Chinese Vice Premier, stating:

“The complete success of Tiangong-2 and Shenzhou-11 mission marks a fresh major progress in China’s manned space program, the latest achievement in building an innovative country and a strong power in science and technology and the latest achievement of the Chinese people in scaling the height of the world.”

Onboard experiments

During the orbital linkup between Shenzhou-11 and the Tiangong-2, mission highlights included testing the transportation of personnel and materials between Earth and Tiangong-2 as well as the meeting, docking and return processes; aerospace medical experiments, space science investigations and in-orbit maintenance.

The two astronauts also carried out a trio of experiments that included raising silkworms in space, designed by middle school students from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

It was the third space mission for the 50-year-old astronaut veteran Jing Haipeng, commander of the crew, who also flew earlier in the Shenzhou-7 and Shenzhou-9 missions.

For the 38-year old Chen Dong, it was his first space mission.

Jing and Chen arrived in Beijing on Friday night at the Xijiao Military airport. They got off the plane sitting in soft chairs, still adapting to Earth’s gravity after spending more than 30 days in microgravity.

With the help of medical staff and other assistants, the astronauts left the airport for the Beijing Aerospace City, reports CCTV-Plus.

Video highlights

Take a look at these videos showing various stages of the Shenzhou-11 departure from space and subsequent landing:

http://cd-pv.news.cctvplus.com/2016/1118/8036826_Preview_7559.mp4

http://pv.news.cctvplus.com/2016/1118/8036840_Preview_7351.mp4

http://l3-pv.news.cctvplus.com/2016/1118/8036855_Preview_1479473421425.mp4

http://l3-pv.news.cctvplus.com/2016/1118/8036860_Preview_1479481281961.mp4

Two Chinese astronauts have entered the Shenzhou-11 reentry module to prepare for their return to the Earth.

Space travelers Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong have lived and worked in the Tiangong-2 space lab for 30 days, the longest stay in Earth orbit by Chinese astronauts.

Separation process

Prior to the separation of Shenzhou-11 with the space lab, the astronauts transferred experimental devices and items from Tiangong-2 to the spacecraft’s re-entry module.

“The entire separation process was very smooth. Both Tiangong and the spacecraft completed their designated moves, and the process to start operation was quite normal,” reported Chen Xianfeng, director of overplan office of Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

Status check

In an interview with CCTV-Plus, Chen added that during the course of separation, the 30-meter stop, the 120-meter stop, the final separation and the move for spacecraft to reset flight, “all the moves were very good.”

“Both Tiangong and Shenzhou are in a normal state at present and various missions are going smoothly,” said Chen.

After the separation, Shenzhou-11 is scheduled to fly to a position 120 meters away from Tiangong-2. Once at that distance, the two-person craft will stay in orbit until ground control teams evaluate its status, and then give the final go for the crew to gradually depart the neighboring space lab.

Reentry point

“Tonight we will conduct an orbit control to the spacecraft to take aim at the re-entry point, because after the separation, there will be a separating force between the spacecraft and Tiangong, which will cause a tiny deviation from the orbit. We have to readjust to make the re-entry control more accurate,” explained Chen to CCTV-Plus.

Around one day later, the re-entry module will descend from an orbit about 244 miles (393 kilometers) above Earth.

The spacecraft is expected to touch down in the Siziwang Banner in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The Tiangong-2 space lab is remaining in its orbit, carrying out remote experiments.

In April 2017, China’s first cargo spacecraft – the Tianzhou-1 — will be launched via a Long March 7 to dock with the space lab.

For video views of the Shenzhou-11 crew preparing for reentry to Earth, go to:

http://l3-pv.news.cctvplus.com/2016/1117/8036789_Preview_1479386963751.mp4

During its wheeled treks on the Red Planet, NASA’s Spirit rover may have encountered a potential biosignature of past life on Mars, report scientists at Arizona State University.

To help make their case, the researchers have contrasted Spirit’s study of “Home Plate” — a plateau of layered rocks that the robot explored during the early part of its third year on Mars – with features found within active hot spring/geyser discharge channels at El Tatio in northern Chile.

The work has resulted in a provocative paper: Silica deposits on Mars with features resembling hot spring biosignatures at El Tatio in Chile.

Field work

As reported online in Nature Communications, field work in Chile by the ASU team, Steven Ruff and Jack Farmer in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University in Tempe, show that the nodular and digitate silica structures at El Tatio that most closely resemble those on Mars include complex sedimentary structures produced by a combination of biotic and abiotic processes.

“Although fully abiotic processes are not ruled out for the Martian silica structures, they satisfy an a priori definition of potential biosignatures,” they report.

Ancient setting

The Mars rover Spirit encountered outcrops and regolith composed of opaline silica (amorphous SiO2nH2O) in an ancient volcanic hydrothermal setting in Gusev crater.

An origin via either fumarole-related acid-sulfate leaching or precipitation from hot spring fluids was considered possible. “However, the potential significance of the characteristic nodular and mm-scale digitate opaline silica structures was not recognized,” Ruff and Farmer note.

El Tatio: Mars-like conditions

The physical environment of El Tatio offers a rare combination of high elevation, low precipitation rate, high mean annual evaporation rate, common diurnal freeze-thaw and extremely high ultraviolet irradiance.

“Such conditions provide a better environmental analog for Mars than those of Yellowstone National Park (USA) and other well-known geothermal sites on Earth,” suggest Ruff and Farmer. “Our results demonstrate that the more Mars-like conditions of El Tatio produce unique deposits, including biomediated silica structures, with characteristics that compare favorably with the Home Plate silica outcrops. The similarities raise the possibility that the Martian silica structures formed in a comparable manner.”

Biosignature definition

Previously, a NASA science team defined a potential biosignature as “an object, substance and/or pattern that might have a biological origin and thus compels investigators to gather more data before reaching a conclusion as to the presence or absence of life.”

“Because we can neither prove nor disprove a biological origin for the microstromatolite-like digitate silica structures at Home Plate, they constitute a potential biosignature according to this definition,” Ruff and Farmer comment.

Spirit of Future exploration

The Spirit rover bogged down on Mars in May 2009, becoming stuck in soft soil.

In late January 2010, after months of attempts to free the rover, NASA dubbed the wheeled robot mission a stationary research platform. The lack of mobility and the harsh climes of Mars conspired to seal the fate of the robot, with attempts to regain contact with the robot ending in May 2011. Subsequently, NASA announced the end of contact efforts and the completion of Spirit’s mission.

The ASU researchers suggest that a future and specially-instrumented rover mission could perhaps provide a more definitive assessment of possible biogenicity of Home Plate silica structures.

“However, because of the challenges in obtaining unambiguous evidence in situ, coordinated microscopic and compositional analyses of samples returned to laboratories on Earth may be required to reach a robust conclusion as to the presence or absence of past Martian life in these rocks,” Ruff and Farmer state.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their work – Silica deposits on Mars with features resembling hot spring biosignatures at El Tatio in Chile – has been published online in Nature Communications, dated November 17, 2016.

It can be viewed here: http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13554

China’s two-person space crew is preparing for a return to Earth, drawing to a close a month-long stint onboard their Tiangong-2 space lab.

According to GBTimes, airspace restriction indicates that the Shenzhou-11 return capsule is expected to land Friday, November 18 between 05:33 – 06:13 universal time (00:33 – 01:13 EST / 13:33 – 14:13 Beijing time).

 

National record

Shenzhou-11 mission astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong are reportedly in good health as their national record month-long stay onboard Tiangong-2 nears a successful conclusion.

Launched on October 17, the Shenzhou-11 crew will have remained in space for 33 days.

Projected touchdown site

Meanwhile, ground teams in China have wrapped up the last comprehensive search and rescue exercise prior to Shenzhou-11’s projected touchdown in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

In a CCTV-Plus interview with Li Quan, commander, major landing site system, Li said that “the entire exercise was designed according to actual-combat situation. All the participating units cooperated closely during the exercise.”

 

 

Search and rescue exercise

The search and rescue, Li added, “turned to be prompt and accurate, and the astronauts and the return capsule were handled in a scientific and reasonable manner. We can say after this exercise, the various systems of the major landing site have been proved to be capable of accomplishing the mission.”

The ground team carried out other exercise duties, CCTV-Plus reports, including extracting the astronauts from their capsule, medical monitoring and support, as well as on-site disposal of the return capsule and escorting the astronauts.

To view a video of pre-landing preparations, go to:

http://l3-pv.news.cctvplus.com/2016/1116/8036691_Preview_1479300626345.mp4

 

NASA’s Curiosity rover is now in Sol 1521 and is “continuing to make steady progress,” reports Ryan Anderson, a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. There have been successful drives of the robot “interspersed with plenty of good science,” he adds.

In a Sol 1516 plan, scientists started off with a Mastcam mosaic of “West Mesa” to study the stratigraphy, followed by a big 5×5 point Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) analysis on the nodular target “Ship Island.”

Laser shots

In appraising that target, ChemCam has carried out more than 400,000 laser shots!

ChemCam looks at rocks and soils from a distance, then fires a laser and analyzes the elemental composition of vaporized materials from areas smaller than 1 millimeter on the surface of Martian rocks and soils.

An on-board spectrograph provides unprecedented detail about minerals and microstructures in rocks by measuring the composition of the resulting laser-produced plasma — an extremely hot gas made of free-floating ions and electrons.

ChemCam has been also used to analyze the target “Stave Island” and Mastcam documented both targets as well as the auto-targeted location from Sol 1514.

Interesting dark rocks

Curiosity’s Mastcam rounded out the science block with a small mosaic of some interesting dark rocks, Anderson notes.

After that, Curiosity drove, and ChemCam did another auto-targeted observation.

Sol 1517 was pretty simple, with a Mastcam image of the rover deck, Navcam atmospheric monitoring, and a twilight image taken by the rover’s Mars Descent Imager (MARDI).

Workplace mosaic

“The Sol 1516 drive brought us to a sandy location, so the Sol 1518 plan takes advantage of that location to study the sand,” Anderson explains.

The plan starts out with Mastcam observations to monitor the amount of dust in the atmosphere, followed by ChemCam observations of “Folly Island”, “Burnt Porcupine,” “Hadley Point,” and “Old Whale Ledge.”

Curiosity’s Mastcam was slated to document all of those targets and also has an observation to extend the mosaic of the workspace.

Sandy targets

With that remote sensing done, the rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) was on tap to image “Folly Island” and the sandy targets “Sheep Porcupine” and “Bald Porcupine.”

The robot’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) is scheduled to measure Sheep Porcupine and Bald Porcupine. Late in the day, Mastcam will repeat the observations of atmospheric dust.

On Sol 1519, the plan was to carry out a short drive with the usual post-drive imaging, and ChemCam will do another automated observation.

Distant imaging

Sol 1520 was an untargeted Sol, so scientists focused on imaging distant targets.

Mastcam has on tap creating a mosaic of the upcoming “Hematite Ridge,” ChemCam has a long-distance Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) of Mt. Sharp, and NavCam will look to the northern horizon to measure the dust in the atmosphere, Anderson concludes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Traverse map

Meanwhile, Curiosity’s traverse map through Sol 1519 has been issued.

This map shows the route driven by NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity through the 1519 Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission on Mars (November 14, 2016).

Numbering of the dots along the line indicate the sol number of each drive. North is up.

The scale bar is one kilometer (roughly 0.62 mile).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Sol 1516 to Sol 1519, Curiosity has driven a straight line distance of about 105.88 feet (32.27 meters), bringing the rover’s total odometry for the mission to 9.31 miles (14.98 kilometers).

Curiosity landed on Mars in August of 2012.