Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity’s Navcam Right B took this image on Sol 1216, January 7, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

(Update)

The Curiosity rover has recovered from a motor controller anomaly, reports USGS Mars scientist, Ken Herkenhoff. Tactical operations are back on track, with a drive to the dune sampling area planned for Sol 1221.

Late last week, the rover encountered an anomaly, reports Lauren Edgar, a research geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona and a member of the Mars Science Laboratory science team.

The problem prevented any use of motors during Sol 1217, putting off “bump and scuff” action by the robot. A bump is a short drive, with Curiosity turning its right front wheel to create a scuff in the sand.

“No motors meant no drive and no scuff, and most of our planned activities did not occur,” Edgar explains. So the day turned into a recovery day, “first trying to assess what happened and why it happened, and then figuring out how to proceed.”

“Ultimately we delivered some ChemCam and Mastcam activities that will help to assess the composition of the soil, and search for any wind-driven movement of fines,” Edgar adds.

A weekend plan provided an opportunity to do several coordinated change-detection observations using both the robot’s Mastcam and Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) at multiple times throughout the day.

Looking ahead to this week, Edgar says, “we’re hoping to proceed with the bump and scuff to get back on track with the Namib Dune sampling activities!”