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February 16th, 2022
Curiosity’s location as of Sol 3387. Distance driven to that sol is 16.93 miles/27.25 kilometers.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3388 duties.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3387, February 15, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“Curiosity is advancing westward through a largely boulder-strewn channel that is leading us toward the Greenheugh Pediment,” reports Scott Guzewich, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3387, February 15, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Pediment is where the rover will spend the next many months, Guzewich adds, “as we turn back uphill to the south and continue our ascent up Mt. Sharp. Despite it being quite craggy in our current location, we did have to drive over a large sand patch to get to our current parking location!”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3387, February 15, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Days ahead
A recent planned objective was to study one of the last remaining bedrock patches available to Curiosity before it ascends onto the Pediment in the days ahead.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3387, February 15, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Mars researchers quickly identified “Loch Coruisk” as their preferred bedrock slab for contact science with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS).
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3387, February 15, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The robot’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) is set to zap that target with Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) in addition to two other bedrock pieces nearby.
Curiosity Mast Camera Right image acquired on Sol 3386, February 13, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Dust storm season
“Both ChemCam and Mastcam will also be imaging the edge of the Pediment to our southwest and northwest so we can study the geologic contact that the edge represents,” Guzewich points out. “That imaging includes a Mastcam 360° mosaic, which will surely be spectacular!”
Curiosity Mast Camera Right imagery taken on Sol 3386 February 13, 2022
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
As the rover is quickly approaching the dust storm season on Mars, scientists also added several dust devil movies with Navcam and observations to monitor the dust amounts in the atmosphere above Curiosity and within Gale Crater itself, Guzewich concludes.
Posted in Space News
