Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image acquired on Sol 3471, May 12, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3472 duties.

After a successful drive of 154 feet (47 meters), with roughly 16 feet (5 meters) of elevation gain, the robot arrived at more new and interesting terrain to investigate, reports Elena Amador, a systems engineer and planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

In a recently scripted two sol plan (Sols 3471-3472), Curiosity continued a systematic chemical characterization of the bedrock using its Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) and making its way through the clay/sulfate transition.

Nodular bedrock

Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 3469, May 10, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Two contact science targets, “Pastora” and “Tama Tama,” are nodular bedrock, and the rover was to also use the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) imager to take a close look at their fine-texture.

“Together the imaging and compositional information will provide clues for how these rocks formed and how they have been subsequently altered,” Amador notes.

The plan also calls for imaging distant buttes and layered stratigraphy using Mastcam and the ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) to learn about the depositional environments they formed in.

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3470, May 11, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Dustiest season

“Our environmental team continues to monitor the atmosphere as we are approaching our dustiest season by taking tau measurements and line-of-sight observations across the crater, in addition to other weather monitoring observations,” Amador explains.

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3470, May 11, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“The most fun part of my day as Science Operations Coordinator (SOC),” Amador adds, “was brokering the discussion between the science team and the Rover Planners for our drive and most importantly our end-of-drive location – which sets us up for the work we’ll do in Friday’s plan.”

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo taken on Sol 3470, May 11, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Up the mountain

The science team typically provides the SOC with several science targets that they are interested in landing on, with the SOC working with the Rover Planners to understand if those targets work with the resources available for the drive (for example, power and proper imaging), if accessing those targets is safe (for example, are they on a steep hill where the rover may slip?), and if the targets are generally along our high-level strategic path.

“After lots of fun back and forth, the team decided to drive 98 feet (30 meters) towards some unique dark layered blocks,” Amador reports. “If our drive is successful, we’ll get to do some contact science this weekend before continuing our journey up the mountain!”

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