By 
March 6th, 2022
Curiosity’s Location as of Sol 3403. Distance driven to this Sol is 16.98 miles (27.33 kilometers).
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3406 tasks.
“The terrain continues to challenge us as we make our way up onto the Greenheugh pediment,” reports Fred Calef, Planetary Geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
A recent drive by the robot ended sooner than expected when it sensed the road was rockier than anticipated, so it paused to wait for further instructions from Earth.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3404, March 4, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Sedimentary structures
Scientists took advantage of this brief pause to “sniff” the rock field all around Curiosity. The chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) and Mastcam were used to survey “Tobar Mhoire” and “Ardalanish,” both points on a gray-toned rock with laminations, Calef adds.
Curiosity Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3403, March 3, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Farther afield, the rover was slated to capture large ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photos and Mastcam mosaics of “Helmsdale Fault” capturing the pediment edge.
In addition, on tap was a massive (58 images) Mastcam mosaic centered about “Feorachas,” a remnant monolith in a field of various sedimentary structures, Calef notes.
Curiosity Mast Camera imagery taken on Sol 3403, March 3, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity Mast Camera imagery taken on Sol 3403, March 3, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“Finally, the rover will look to the north and capture ‘Torflundie Mire,’ one of several scoured areas across the pediment, in a 11 image Mastcam stereo mosaic. Other standard imaging includes a Mastcam 360 for documenting the surrounding area, clast survey, and solar tau to measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere, as well as Navcam sky flats, line-of-sight to again look at the atmosphere in a different way, and a dust devil movie,” Calef reports.
Sand, sharp boulders
In an earlier report, Lucy Thompson, a planetary geologist at University of New Brunswick; Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, explains that Curiosity has been picking her way through sand, sharp boulders and ridges to find a way up onto the Greenheugh pediment.
Curiosity Mast Camera Left photo taken on Sol 3403, March 3, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“We briefly explored the pediment more than 600 sols ago, before resuming our traverse over the Mount Sharp group sedimentary rocks that we have been driving over since roughly sol 750,” Thompson adds. “The science team is excited to drive up onto and investigate the very different looking rock that comprises the more resistant pediment again. As we have been driving along the side of the pediment cliffs, interesting textures have been observed, which we are hoping to examine in situ.”
Curiosity Mast Camera Left photo taken on Sol 3403, March 3, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Thompson says, because of the tricky terrain, Curiosity’s recent drive stopped a little short of its intended location and the Mars machinery ended up perched on a rock, such that controllers were not able to safely deploy the arm and use either the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) or the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS).
“However, the rover engineers are confident that we can continue our drive in this plan to get us ever closer to the pediment surface,” Thompson explains.
Posted in Space News
