Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity prepares for a thorough examination of the unusual, dark “Tungsten Hills” rocks in front of it, studying these rugged boulders covered in paper-thin sedimentary layers, some of which contain intriguing ripple structures that may have formed in running water or windblown sand.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 4298, September 8, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity at Gale crater is targeted to make a thorough examination of the unusual, dark “Tungsten Hills” rocks.

The robot is studying these rugged boulders covered in paper-thin sedimentary layers, some of which contain intriguing ripple structures that may have formed in running water or windblown sand.

Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) image produced on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Earlier this week, Deborah Padgett, Operational Product Generation Subsystem (OPGS) Task Lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reported that Curiosity completed its most southerly planned exploration of the Gediz Vallis channel.

Curiosity Mast Camera Left image taken on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Climb out of the channel

“From here, our rover will head north and climb out of the channel to explore terrain to the west. Our planned drive to the ‘Tungsten Hills’ rocks, named for a famous mining district near Bishop, California, completed successfully over the weekend, placing a pile of unusual dark rocks within our workspace,” Padgett said.

Curiosity Mast Camera Left image taken on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The Mars machinery is currently in the “Bishop” quadrangle, so all targets in this area of Mount Sharp are named after places in the Sierra Nevada and Owens Valley of California.

Curiosity Mast Camera Left image taken on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Rugged boulders

On sols 4300-4301, Curiosity was slated to perform a thorough examination of these rugged boulders, which are covered in paper-thin sedimentary layers like the pages of a book, Padgett reports. “Some layers have intriguing ripple structures that may have formed in running water or windblown sand. These features are the prime targets for contact science and remote observation at this location.”

On Sol 4300, the plan for Curiosity was to obtain Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) laser spectra and Mastcam imagery on a part of the closest plate-like rock called “Bonita Flat,” after a high valley above the southern Kern River canyon in Sequoia National Forest, Padgett adds.

Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) RMI photo taken on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL

Telescopic views

ChemCam was also set to obtain telescopic views of a section of the Gediz Vallis channel banks with its Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) camera. Mastcam will take a mosaic of the upper reaches of the channel, then turn its cameras on the interesting bedrock of “Coffeepot Canyon,” honoring a ravine along the precipitous East Fork of the Kaweah River canyon in Sequoia National Park, explains Padgett.

Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image taken on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The first science block ends with atmospheric observations, including a dust-devil movie, supra-horizon cloud imaging, and Mastcam measurement of dust in the air across the crater.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Dog’s eye maneuver

“Curiosity will then use its arm to brush the dust from the closest block in an area dubbed ‘Pond Lily Lake,’” Padgett adds, “for a petite meadow lake atop the canyon wall of the San Joaquin River, downstream of Devil’s Postpile National Monument.”

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This cleared spot will then be imaged by the rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Mastcam, and its composition will be measured by Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) spectroscopy.

MAHLI will perform an intricate “dog’s eye” maneuver to obtain detailed images of ripples in “Window Cliffs,” named after sheer walls above the spectacular fault-controlled Kern River canyon west of 14,505-foot Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the lower 48 states.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

MAHLI wraps up a very full day of work by imaging the scalloped edge of the largest nearby block, dubbed “Boneyard Meadow” for a wetland in the western Sierra foothills where many sheep sadly perished due to a late spring snowstorm in 1877.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Morning light

Early on sol 4301, Curiosity was scheduled to use Mastcam to thoroughly document the Tungsten Hills in pre-sunrise morning light.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Padgett points out that, later in the day, a second science block starts with ChemCam spectroscopy and Mastcam imagery of “Castle Domes,” honoring the granite domes of Castle Valley, acclaimed as some of the most beautiful mountain scenery in Kings Canyon National Park.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

ChemCam RMI will perform telescopic observations of the channel floor.

Drive north

Mastcam is on tap to look for possible sulfur rocks at the base of the Tungsten Hills blocks in a target named “Hummingbird Lake,” for an alpine lake at 10,000 feet between Bloody and Lundy Canyons near Mono Lake.

“This science block of the plan ends with Navcam deck monitoring, dust measurement, and a large dust-devil survey. Curiosity will then drive north, taking a MARDI [Mars Descent Imager] “sidewalk” video of the terrain under the rover during the drive,” Padgett says in completing the report.

Curiosity Front Left B Hazard Avoidance Camera photo taken on Sol 4298, September 9, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Curiosity Front Left B Hazard Avoidance Camera image taken on Sol 4291, September 1, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 4301, September 11, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech