Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity’s location as of Sol 3551. Distance driven to that Sol: 17.66 miles/28.42 kilometers.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3553 duties.

“Curiosity is making its way through the stunning ‘Paraitepuy Pass,’ the little canyon that runs between the ‘Deepdale’ and ‘Bolivar’ buttes to our east and west, respectively,” reports Elena Amador-French, Science Operations Coordinator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3552, August 3, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“The canyon floor is filled with aeolian bedforms, or sand ripples, as wind is likely funneled through the pass, mobilizing sand grains,” Amador-French adds, “a lovely modern process, active on Mars today!”

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3552, August 3, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Dog’s eye mosaic

Recent rover contact science included taking a Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) “dog’s eye” mosaic of the bedrock target “Karisparo.”

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity took 31 images in Gale Crater using its mast-mounted Right Navigation Camera (Navcam) to create this mosaic.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“In a dog’s eye mosaic, the rover planners attempt to get the MAHLI camera as parallel to a vertical face of an exposure as possible. This provides a nice view of how any rock layers are oriented relative to each other, as well as getting a fine-scale view of the grain sizes,” Amador-French notes. “The science team then uses these observations to interpret how the grains were deposited and may have been subsequently perturbed.”

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3552, August 3, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Also on tap is use of the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument to take a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) observation of some local bedrock and long-distance Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photography of the Deepdale butte.

Distant layering

“The RMIs provide an excellent “spy glass” view of distant layering that otherwise can’t be resolved with the other cameras. Mastcam will take mosaics of both the Bolivar and Deepdale buttes from this new vantage point,” Amador-French reports.

Curiosity Mast Camera Left photo taken on Sol 3551, August 2, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

A drive recently planned by the rover controllers will navigate about 98 feet (30 meters) forward through Paraitepuy Pass. “They are working through challenging terrain with higher than normal tilts and pointy blocks that have eroded off the surrounding buttes,” Amador-French explains. “A fun drive for Curiosity!”

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 3551, August 2, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

From the new location after the drive, rover operators were to use ChemCam’s autonomous target selection software to pick an interesting science target for a LIBS observation and document that spot with Mastcam. “We also have our continued environmental monitoring observations including a dust devil and sky survey,” Amador-French concludes.

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 3551, August 2, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

High slip on steep terrain

In an earlier report by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory noted that a recent drive by the robot stopped early due to high slip on the steep terrain, and Curiosity’s parking place was not a safe spot to unstow and use the arm.

“This terrain is particularly beautiful, so the opportunity to take more imaging is both scientifically interesting and visually stunning,” Stroupe adds.

“The drive itself was very challenging, given that we had already stopped short due to the difficult terrain. We are attempting to reach a high point…so we can look down into the valley to see if there is a way out on the other side and to help plan our path forward. High tilts, sand, and large and small rocks clutter the terrain, requiring the Rover Planners to pick their way around while making sure they stay clear of the hazards,” Stroupe explains.