Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3590, September 11, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3592 tasks.

“Curiosity is back on the road,” reports Kristen Bennett, a planetary geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.

The robot’s arm is good to go, so the team planned a full day of activities.

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3590, September 11, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Extra observations

“Curiosity has been sitting in the same place for a few sols, so the team has been taking advantage of that to get extra observations in this area,” Bennett adds.

Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3590, September 11, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

One Mastcam observation is an extension of a mosaic (“Parai Pond”) that was started last week. Additionally, there is a Mastcam multispectral observation in the plan to capture bedrock that shows color variations.

“We will get a closer look at a feature in the distance that is thought to be an inverted channel with a ChemCam [Chemistry and Camera] long distance RMI [Remote Micro-Imager],” Bennett notes.

ChemCam will also target the “Kurupung” block in the workspace.

Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 3590, September 11, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL

Interesting pink pebble

“The ChemCam team is taking advantage of spending several sols in one location to build up their statistics of the geochemistry in this area. By targeting multiple rocks in the scene, we will get a better understanding as to whether everything has the same chemistry or if there are small variations,” Bennett explains.

Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 3590, September 11, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL

Contact science is back in the mix, with a Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) observation of an interesting pink pebble in the workspace called “Piabas.”

Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 3591, September 12, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LAN

Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 3590, September 11, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

“We also get back on the road in this plan, [Sols 3592-3593] with a short seven meter drive that will take the rover to the edge of the next area of interest,” Bennett concludes. “Onwards!”