Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity image taken by the robot’s Front Hazcam: Left B on May 14,Sol 984.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Curiosity rover is experiencing excessive wheel slippage. So much so that controllers of the Mars machinery are studying new driving tactics.

Also, the rover is tilted 21 degrees, “the highest tilt of the mission so far,” explains Ken Herkenhoff of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Curiosity is on the flank of a small ridge on the Red Planet. The vehicle is high enough on the ridge, Herkenhoff notes, that the terrain to the southwest is visible in rover images.

Image from tilting Curiosity rover, taken by Navcam: Left B on May 14 on Sol 984.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

That new imagery will allow more complete evaluation of a traverse in that direction, he adds.

Autofocus software

A Sol 985 plan for Curiosity includes use of the Laser-Induced Remote Sensing for Chemistry and Micro-Imaging (ChemCam) instrument to observe a nearby rock called “Una” – to evaluate newly-installed ChemCam autofocus software.

“Of course we are hoping this test goes well and that ChemCam will return to more normal operations soon,” says Herkenhoff.

The rover’s Mastcam is also set to observe Una, as well as the ripples and small rocks near the rover, and outcrops toward the south.