Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image, looking toward the upper slopes of Mount Sharp, using its Left Navigation Camera (Left Navcam) on July 20, 2025. Curiosity captured the image on Sol 4605, or Martian day 4,605 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Curiosity rover continues its exploration of the fractured boxwork terrain on the slopes of Mount Sharp, reports Deborah Padgett, an Operational Product Generation Subsystem (OPGS) task lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“After a successful 5-meter drive (about 16 feet), our rover is resting in a hollow on its way to a boxwork ridge viewpoint,” Padgett notes. Over the July 19-20 weekend, Curiosity began an atmospheric observation with the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument.

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 4611, July 27, 2025.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Deep dip

“Because the SAM instrument is complex and powerful, it uses a great deal of energy when it operates, causing what we call a ‘deep dip’ in the battery charge level,” Padgett points out. “This means that we have to wait a bit after the SAM observations complete for the battery to recharge enough for Curiosity to observe its surroundings with other science instruments, or move its arm or wheels.”

For this reason, a recent plan did not include a drive, and contact science at this location will be done on the second sol of the plan for Sols 4607-4608.

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 4611, July 27, 2025.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Cloud observations

On Sol 4607, Curiosity was to begin the day with SAM atmospheric composition activity, which will run for several hours.

“After it finishes, we will use the rover’s navigation camera to perform a cloud altitude observation, looking for cloud shadows on the upper reaches of Mount Sharp, and clouds drifting by overhead at the zenith,” Padgett adds. “Overnight, Curiosity’s battery will recharge, allowing us to perform a targeted science block on the morning of Sol 4608. This starts with Navcam observations of dust opacity across the floor of Gale Crater, then a measurement of dust in the air toward the Sun with Mastcam.”

Curiosity image taken on July 24, 2025, Sol 4609, by Left Navigation Camera B.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Disturbed ground

Curiosity then was to turn Mastcam toward the ridge ahead to obtain a 15×1 mosaic on target “Cueva De Los Vencejos Y Murcielagos (Cave of Swifts and Bats).”

“Afterwards, Mastcam will look back along Curiosity’s tracks, hoping to see freshly broken rocks and determine the texture of disturbed ground,” says Padgett.

Next, the rover’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) was to use its laser spectrograph to zap a nodular rock pillar named for the famous high-altitude “Lake Titicaca” bordering Bolivia and Peru.

A second ChemCam observation with the Remote Micro Imager (RMI) telescopic camera was to study stratigraphy on the Mishe Mokwa butte with a 5×2 image mosaic. Mastcam will finish off this science block by looking at the pits left behind by the ChemCam laser on target “Lake Titicaca.” 

This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4609, July 24, 2025.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Big mystery

Padgett in wrapping up the report adds that Curiosity’s arm was slated to reach out to brush the dust from the bedrock target “La Tranquita,” and then observe it with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) microscopic imager and the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS).

“MAHLI and APXS will also investigate plate-like rock formations at target “Aqua Dulce.” A third target with more complex rock structures dubbed “Paposo,” after a natural monument along the Pacific Coast of northern Chile, will be imaged only by MAHLI. The next morning will include another targeted science block. Curiosity will then drive away toward the next viewpoint in the boxwork terrain of Mars, Padgett concludes.

“A big mystery is why the ridges were hardened into these big patterns and why only here,” explains Curiosity’s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s JPL. “As we drive on, we’ll be studying the ridges and mineral cements to make sure our idea of how they formed is on target.”

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has imaged part of the boxwork region the robot is exploring, perhaps formed by ancient groundwater.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS