Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B image taken on Sol 3608, September 30, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3608 duties.

“Whenever working on Mars throws up a complication, Curiosity’s team has to make a pivot,” reports Alex Innanen, an atmospheric scientist at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Curiosity has found itself in a bit of a precarious spot, and can’t do any direct contact science or drill. “The small drive in the last plan didn’t quite get us where we wanted to go, so we’re still not able to drill,” Innanen adds

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3608, September 30, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The team quickly pivoted into other science looking at some nearby and more distant targets.

Distant marker band

On the first sol of the plan (Sol 3607-3608) the robot’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) was slated to do Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) work on a nearby block, ‘Sophia Point,’ along with Mastcam.

Mastcam and ChemCam are also continuing to document the distant marker band.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3608, September 30, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

 

Later in the sol, Innanen notes, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) was to get up close with two bedrock targets – “Esperito Santo” and the dusty “El Pao de la Fortuna.”

Dusty season

“The next sol has a ChemCam LIBS on ‘Juventina’, which we possible scuffed while driving, followed up by Mastcam. ChemCam and Mastcam are also imaging the slightly more distant ‘Kabrito Island,’ a dark, nodular block. After all this we’re going to do a small bump to try to get into a location where we can hopefully drill and do contact science, Innanen explains, finishing up the sol with a Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) twilight image.

“Even through changes to the plan, the environment is always there around us to check up on. We’re still well in the dusty season in Gale,” Innanen reports, with environmental team members keeping an eye on the changing atmosphere.

Curiosity Left Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3606, September 28, 2022.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Stuff in the atmosphere

“One of these observations is called a tau, which is a measurement of optical depth, or how ‘thick’ the atmosphere is with aerosols such as dust. Another way we look at the amount of ‘stuff’ in the atmosphere is with the line of sight, which shows us how far we see towards the crater rim,” adds Innanen. “Unfortunately, our view of it can get obscured by the big hills we’ve been driving through. Luckily for us, there’s a small gap between two hills where we can see a sliver of crater rim!”

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 3607, September 29, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Argon changes

Also planned were two dust devil observations: a survey and a movie.

“The survey looks all the way around the rover to see where we might spot dust devils, which can help us decide where to point for the movie,” Innanen points out.

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 3607, September 29, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Rounding out the environmental observations is a suprahorizon cloud movie.

“Even though it’s not the cloudy season,” concludes Innanen, Mars researchers still like to “keep an eye on the sky for occasional clouds drifting past.” An Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) atmospheric is also planned, to look at seasonal argon changes.

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