Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3808, April 23, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3810 duties.

“We have cleared the canyon,” reports Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, a planetary geologist at the University of New Brunswick; Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.

There were a lot of tricky rocks the robot had to climb over.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3808, April 23, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Free-wheeling territory

“We don’t exactly have free-wheeling territory up ahead in our drive direction, but it is a little flatter. This hopefully will give us better views of the path ahead and reduce slippage as we drive, so that we can drive for longer than we have been recently,” O’Connell-Cooper adds.

Rover planners outlined a recent plan that had Curiosity taking an over 80 feet (25 meter) drive, much more ambitious than recent wheeled adventures.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3808, April 23, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“We also will hopefully have a higher rate of passing our “SRAP” test (this stands for Stability Risk Assessment Process and is the way we evaluate rover stability) up here than we did last week as we climbed the canyon,” O’Connell-Cooper points out.

Failing SRAP, Mars scientists cannot use robotic arm-mounted instruments, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS).

Curiosity Mast Camera Right photo taken of Dust Removal Tool action on Sol 3808, April 23, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Solid workspace

“Fortunately, our weekend drive was successful – it took us where we had planned to go, ending with some solid workspace and safely parked to allow us to take the arm out for contact science,” O’Connell-Cooper adds.

Rover viewed bedrock has strong laminations apparent along its side and a flat top. The flat top is smooth enough for brushing, so use of the Dust Removal Tool “Anortosito Repartimento” is on tap before taking MAHLI images, analyzing with APXS and getting a Mastcam multispectral image, all centered on the same spot for maximum science return.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3808, April 23, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The robot’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) will use its Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument to look at an interesting fracture face, which looks like an upturned smile in a recently taken workspace image. “Galeras” is centered on the far right corner of the fracture, where the fracture is thickest.

Detail from great distance

Curiosity’s ChemCam will also take a long distance image via the rover’s Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) much further afield to “Gediz Vallis ridge.”

These long distance RMI photos can acquire a lot of detail from a great distance, “helping to inform discussions about future science campaigns and potential drive directions,” O’Connell-Cooper observes.

Mastcam will take two mosaics close to the rover, a smaller mosaic looking at a laminated target (“Vichada”) to the right of the workspace, and a larger mosaic covering the main block in Curiosity’s workspace (including the ChemCam and APXS/MAHLI targets) and the way that sand has gathered in a trough feature around the block.

Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B image acquired on Sol 3808, April 23, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Wind scour patterns

“Further afield, Mastcam will get an observation of the stratigraphy of the Chenapau butte and some interesting wind scour patterns,” just beyond the rover’s recent workspace.

O’Connell-Cooper concludes the report by noting that the robot is continuing to monitor environmental conditions in Gale.

In addition to routine Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) and Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) measurements, Mastcam will acquire three tau measurements, which help to constrain the amount of dust in the atmosphere. Navcam will take a “dust devil” movie, in the hopes of catching a wind vortex in action.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3808, April 23, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech