Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity Mars rover used its Front Hazcam Right B camera to take this image on Sol 1134, October 15, 2015.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Curiosity Mars rover is now in Sol 1136 operations.

Due to a Deep Space Network upload command issue, some activities at week’s end were delayed and the rover spent a day resting and recharging, readying itself for weekend science duties.

Scheduled work includes a full drill hole on the “Greenhorn” target, explains Lauren Edgar, a research geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Curiosity Mastcam Right image taken on October 15, 2015, Sol 1134.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Curiosity is acquiring several ChemCam and Mastcam observations on the targets “Nisku,” “Skull Creek,” “Hawk Creek,” and “Opeche” to investigate the variability in silica associated with these fracture zones, Edgar reports.

“We’ll also take several Mastcam images to look for changes in fine-grained deposits to evaluate local winds,” Edgar adds.

Previously, a Sol 1134 mini-start hole on “Pilgrim” went well.

This Sol 1134 image shows the mini-start hole on “Pilgrim” taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on October 15, 2015.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Also on the schedule for that Sol was a Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite atmospheric observation and a targeted science block.

“The goal of the SAM activity is to look for methane, one Mars year after the previous high detections. So we’ll let SAM take a big whiff to see if we can detect anything,” Edgar notes.