By 
November 27th, 2019
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Right B image taken on Sol 2597, November 26, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now carrying out Sol 2598 tasks.
“We arrived at our parking spot for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, and Mars gave us plenty to be grateful for in and around the workspace,” reports Michelle Minitti, a planetary geologist at Framework in Silver Springs, Maryland.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 2597, November 26, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Each bedrock slab in the workspace, Minitti adds, seems to have something different to offer, “Western Butte” looms just 82 feet (25 meters) off to rover left, and dark sand ripples lap up against the small rise the robot is perched on.
“It is an ideal spot at which to spend some quality time. We start off the plan by acquiring the first of part of a 360° panorama that we will accumulate in four parts over the Thanksgiving holiday,” Minitti explains.
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 2597, November 26, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Left eye, right eye
Normally, Mars scientists collect 360° mosaics with Curiosity’s wider field of view Mastcam left eye. This time, the plan calls for capturing the 360° mosaic using the left eye and the narrower field of view Mastcam right eye.
Minitti adds that this will result in a ripe-for-zooming-in stereo mosaic that includes our recent focus of exploration, “Central Butte,” and the clay-bearing unit, “Vera Rubin Ridge,” the “Greenheugh pediment,” the distant Gale crater rim, and (looming above all) Mount Sharp.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 2597, November 26, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Bedrock targets
Through the rest of a three sol plan (Sols 2597-2599), “our focus falls slightly closer to the rover than the surrounding vista” Minitti reports.
That plan includes brushing the target “Everbay — which has a polygonal fracture pattern — with the Dust Removal Tool (DRT) and follow up with Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) imaging and an Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) analysis.
“Fidra” is visible in the upper left corner of this image taken by Curiosity’s Left B Navigation Camera on Sol 2595, November 24, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
MAHLI will also image the targets “Carlops” and “Inverurie,” bedrock targets with different textures than Everbay, to help plan more detailed investigation of these targets with MAHLI and APXS in the next plan.
Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) will shoot Everbay, Inverurie, “Latheron” (yet another variety of bedrock texture!), and “Fidra,” whose vertical gives rover scientists a perfect cross section to look at.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 2597, November 26, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Tunable laser test
Rounding out the plan on Sol 2599, Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite will run a test of its tunable laser spectrometer, Minitti says.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 2597, November 26, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“The environment around and above the rocks gets attention in this plan, as well,” Minitti concludes. The plan involves acquiring regular Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS), Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) and Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) measurements, and images and movies of clouds and dust devils.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 2597, November 26, 2019.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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