By 
October 1st, 2016
Curiosity Mastcam Left image taken on Sol 1475, September 29, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars is now in Sol 1477 – wheeling toward a new drill spot.
“Everything went well in our previous plan and we are making slow but steady progress over rough terrain toward our next drill location,” reports Ryan Anderson, a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. “We should get there by next weekend!”
As scripted, the rover is slated to perform remote sensing on Sol 1477.
Curiosity Mastcam Left image taken on Sol 1475, September 29, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Chadibe, Bobonong, Dukwi, Etsha
The robot’s Navcam has an atmospheric observation, followed by Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) analysis of the targets “Chadibe,” “Bobonong,” and “Dukwi.”
Curiosity’s Mastcam will document those targets once ChemCam is done with them.
Mastcam also has a small mosaic of the target “Etsha” to study its fine-scale layers, and a larger mosaic to extend the drive-direction pan from Sol 1475, adds Anderson.
Curiosity Navcam Left B image taken on Sol 1476, September 30, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Etsha mosaic will be repeated again later in the day. In the evening, the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) will analyze overnight the chemistry of the target “Caugula” and “Catumbela.”
Brushing off Catumbela
“We will brush the dust off of Catumbela before the overnight analysis,” Anderson notes, and the rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) will take images of the targets to support APXS.
On Sol 1478, ChemCam has observations of Catumbela and “Francistown,” with Mastcam support.
Curiosity Navcam Left B image taken on Sol 1475, September 29, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Auto-targeting
Scheduled for later in the day, the robot’s ChemCam will do an automatically targeted Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science (AEGIS) observation and use its Mars Descent Imager (MARDI).
Lastly, on the plan for Sol 1479 is a full routine of engineering activities, so no science blocks were scripted for the rover to perform.
Curiosity Mastcam Right image taken on Sol 1475, September 29, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Performing planned rover activities are always subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.
Posted in Space News
