Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity’s location as of Sol 3465. Distance driven to that Sol is 17.27 miles/27.79 kilometers.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3466 tasks.

The rover has cleared the “Greenheugh pediment” and the mix of sandy, steep, and rough terrain that challenged its drives up and down it, reports Michelle Minitti, a planetary geologist at Framework in Silver Spring, Maryland.

“However, we are finding that as we make our way up Mount Sharp along a new route, some of the same driving gremlins are with us,” Minitti adds.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3465, May 6, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Higher than expected tilts

A recent drive made it just about all the way to its endpoint, but Curiosity encountered higher than expected tilts as the robot attempted to turn toward a desired heading to enable clear communications with Earth via high gain antenna.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3465, May 6, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“The turn did not complete, so direct communication with Curiosity via the high gain antenna was blocked. The current relative positions of Earth and Mars plus the pediment and scenic buttes around us give us fewer heading options for direct communication, so we are less robust to a missed turn here or a drive fault there,” Minitti explains.

Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 3465, May 6, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

That meant researchers had to wait until the morning of Sol 3465 to communicate with Curiosity another way – through one of the many orbiters circling Mars that we use to send our data to Earth. As such, Curiosity was to chill on Sol 3464, but then spring into action on Sol 3465 with the plethora of activities the science team planned.

Undaunted

“The science team was certainly undaunted by having only one sol to plan when we were expecting two, Minitti notes. “We did our best to cram in just about everything we wanted!”

The Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) was the odd instrument out, as the dusty bedrock and less-ideal integration time available for them led them to take a pass on the workspace.

APXS’s usual science partner, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), had rocks to look at, in particular a nice layered block.

MAHLI was slated to acquire a mosaic across the layers centered on target “Firina,” and will then zoom in to look at the rock texture at target “Bartica.”

Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image taken on Sol 3465, May 6, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) was also shoot the layers of that layered block at the target “Rio Mucajai.”

Large buttes

Mastcam will image two large buttes – the one looming to the left of the rover, and “Mirador” butte – both of which have been imaged from different positions previously.

“Imaging them from a different perspective can really clarify the orientations of the structures within the buttes, and those orientations are often key to understanding the processes that formed those rocks,” Minitti reports.

Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B image taken on Sol 3465, May 6, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mastcam was also to image a set of newly-visible structures in the terrain below Mirador butte, centered on the target “Akopan dal Cin.”

The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS), the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) and the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) run throughout the sol.

“With our data in hand,” Minitti concludes, “we will drive further up the slope in front of us, alongside the large butte we imaged today. Here’s hoping the terrain is more forgiving!”