By 
September 7th, 2016
Curiosity Mastcam Right image taken on Sol 1450, September 4, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is gearing up for Sol 1454 duties.
A four-sol plan over the holiday weekend went well, and Curiosity drove roughly 130 feet (40 meters) to the south, reports Lauren Edgar, a research geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.
“We’re currently just to the east of a butte that we’re planning to approach as our next potential drill site,” Edgar adds.
Local bedrock
On the rover’s agenda has been use of the robot’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) of the target “Eheke,” to characterize the local bedrock. Then scientists are to utilize Mastcam and Navcam to assess atmospheric opacity.
That would be followed by Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) observations of the targets “Diyogha,” and “Donkerbos.”
Curiosity Mastcam Right image taken on Sol 1450, September 4, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Next drill site
On tap is having the rover acquire a Mastcam mosaic of the “Karasburg” area to observe the contact between the Murray and Stimson formations, and another mosaic to document the stratigraphy in the buttes, Edgar notes. “Then we’ll drive to start approaching the next drill site.”
Curiosity Mastcam Right image taken on Sol 1450, September 3, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
After Curiosity’s drive the plan calls for taking post-drive imaging for context and targeting.
Dates of planned rover activities are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.
Curiosity Mastcam Left image taken on Sol 1452, September 6, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Posted in Space News
