Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

This outcrop in the center of image reminds one of a lion, lying on its side. Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B photo taken on Sol 3892, July 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater has just begun performing Sol 3893 tasks.

A recent weekend drive successfully brought the robot some 90 feet (28 meters), bringing it closer to the “crater cluster,” a series of small craters grouped close together, reports Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, a planetary geologist at the University of New Brunswick; Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.

Cluster close-ups

“These craters were created by meteoroid impacts, probably from a single meteoroid that broke up before it reached the surface,” O’Connell-Cooper adds. “So this mini campaign will bring us as close as possible to the cluster, for lots and lots of imaging to be analyzed, which will allow us to characterize the craters and potentially get an understanding of their origin. Hopefully we will even get close enough to get contact science on some material up here.”

Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 3892, July 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL

Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 3892, July 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL

Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image taken on Sol 3892, July 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Distinct layers

Curiosity recently focused instruments on one target, labeled as the “Lion’s Mane.”

Bedrock here — and all of the rover’s recent workspaces — typically has two variations, O’Connell-Cooper adds. The bulk of the outcrop is made up of blocks which are usually layered and often have lots of nodules – as can be seen in the body of the “lion.”

Then there are often minor occurrences of a more platy, brittle looking material. The head of the lion and its shaggy mane is made up of this material, where it has weathered into several distinct layers with ragged edges, O’Connell-Cooper points out.

This second type of outcrop was to be studied by the rover’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS), first integrated over the target “Nasia” (located on the top of the “lion’s head”) and then Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) will use Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) on the same spot. This will be followed by using the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Mastcam imaging of the same target.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3891, July 18, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Interactions: rock, regolith, sand

O’Connell-Cooper reports that Mastcam was slated to also take two small mosaics (3 images each) in the near field of the workspace – “Zarelia” will look at some nearby laminated float blocks and the “Troughs” mosaic will look at… you guessed it …. some troughs.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3891, July 18, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“More specifically, it will look at interactions between rock and regolith and sand in the workspace. Mastcam will also take a larger mosaic (a “15×3” mosaic, i.e., 3 rows of 15 images) focusing on the crater cluster,” O’Connell-Cooper adds.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3892, July 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Martian clouds

Meanwhile, the environmental theme group is busy as always.

“Mastcam will take a pair of tau measurements (measuring dust in the atmosphere), whilst Navcam will take a series of movies,” O’Connell-Cooper, notes, “examining martian clouds, their properties and abundances. The cloud ‘zenith’ movie looks directly upwards to look at clouds and their direction, whilst the ‘suprahorizon’ movie is targeted in a more horizontal direction, looking at clouds and variations in optical depth in the atmosphere above the southern rim of the crater.”

The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) and Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) measurements round out the environmental science plan.

Following this, the robot is slated to drive about 98 feet (30 meters), “skirting along the edge of the crater cluster, and setting us for further characterization of the crater cluster on Wednesday,” O’Connell-Cooper concludes.