By 
October 2nd, 2015
Big Sky drilling result. NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, on September 29, 2015, Sol 1119 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has entered Sol 1122, landing on the Red Planet back in August 2012.
Operators of the Mars machinery are reporting success in using the rover’s drill on “Big Sky.”
It went perfectly, reports Ryan Anderson, a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona and a member of the ChemCam team on the Mars Science Laboratory mission.
Minerals on Mars
The plan called for the rover to transfer some of the powder from Big Sky to the Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument, or CheMin for short. That instrument is built to identify and measure the abundances of various minerals on Mars.
Also on Sol 1121, the Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) was slated to observe the target “Minnekahta.”
The rover’s Mastcam was scheduled to document the ChemCam location and also take a picture of the location on the ground where Big Sky material will be dumped, Anderson explains.
Search for clouds
On Sol 1122, Anderson said ChemCam would observe targets “Kippen,” “Kalispell,” and “Big Snowies.”
Anderson adds that Mastcam is to document these targets and take a 4×1 mosaic of the lower portion of Mt. Sharp. Also, Navcam will be used to take a movie about the northern rim of Gale crater to search for any clouds.
“We are all eagerly looking forward to the CheMin results from Big Sky,” Anderson concludes, “to compare with our previous results from ‘Buckskin!’”
Implementation of planned rover activity is subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.
Posted in Space News
