Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3853, June 9, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3855 duties.

“Curiosity has been trying to work her way to the top of a canyon towards an interesting cluster of craters. Unfortunately the current terrain is extremely challenging, and the drives have been stopping short of their intended distance,” reports Lauren Edgar, a planetary geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3854, June 9, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Incremental progress

“After multiple attempts to get uphill but making only incremental progress, the team decided today to try a new route,” Edgar adds. “The new route looks a lot less steep, which will hopefully help the rover make progress among the mixture of fines and bedrock blocks.”

Curiosity doesn’t have the help of traction mats and tow ropes! Despite these driving challenges, Edgar says, Curiosity has been conducting great science.

“During the recent drives the rover wheels have been creating scuffs in the soil, which provide an interesting opportunity to assess the composition of soil newly exposed by the rover wheels,” Edgar explains.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3854, June 10, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Sand slumps

Curiosity collected Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) data on the soil target “Saul,” along with the robot’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) and Mastcam observations of the sand slumps.

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3854, June 9, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The team also planned a long distance ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) mosaic towards Peace Vallis and the distant crater rim, and a number of environmental monitoring observations including cloud and dust devil movies and observations of atmospheric opacity.

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3854, June 9, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

New route

Edgar reports that planning last Friday involved the finding that although Curiosity drove roughly 16 feet (5 meters), “there was not sufficient progress to encourage us to continue on this route.”

So Curiosity collected final observations, setting its sights on a new route to the east.

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3854, June 9, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A recent plan calls for ChemCam to assess the chemistry of two bedrock blocks in the rover’s workspace, and acquire long distance RMIs towards Peace Vallis.

Mastcam will acquire multispectral observations on a couple of rocks and veins, as well as stereo imaging of our workspace and a nearby crater.

Some additional environmental monitoring observations are sprinkled throughout the plan.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3854, June 9, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“Then Curiosity will drive on the second sol,” Edgar concludes, “and we’re hoping to come in next week to some easier terrain ahead!”