Tag: Blogs

3 min read Sols 4186-4188: Almost there… 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 May 14, 2024, Sol 4184 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 06:58:35 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Earth planning day: Wednesday, May 15, 2024 The rover planning engineers yet again did a great job navigating through the large bedrock blocks that litter the terrain in front of us. We are getting ever closer to being able to cross…

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3 min read Sols 4184-4185: Look Near! Look Far! This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4183 (2024-05-13 02:30:29 UTC). NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Monday, May 13, 2024 Today I’ve chosen to show off a spectacular image of ‘Texoli butte,’ but I’m rather biased in my assessment of its beauty because I am currently part of the team studying it. What continues to marvel me is Curiosity’s incredible suite of instruments that can not only help us to assess the rocks around us,…

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3 min read Sols 4182-4183: We Reached the South Side of Pinnacle Ridge… What’s Next? This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4180 (2024-05-10 03:55:37 UTC). NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Friday, May 10, 2024 We planned quite a drive on Wednesday, with lots of twists and turns over very bumpy terrain, so the team was delighted to learn everything completed as planned when we received our downlink at ~4 am Pacific Time this morning! The successful drive means Curiosity is now parked on…

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3 min read Sols 4180-4182: Imaging fest! This Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) image shows all the features and textures we have in the area ranging from laminae to little nodules. The image was taken on May 7, 2024, Sol 4178 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 23:20:40 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Earth planning date: Wednesday, May 8, 2024 What a wonderful sight to see all the sedimentary structures. I am a geochemist, but I hear the excitement in the voices of my sediment-specialist colleagues, discussing all those textures and things to…

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2 min read Sols 4178-4179: The Pinnacle Ridge Scarp This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4176 (2024-05-05 22:50:10 UTC). NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Monday, May 6, 2024 Curiosity’s set of complex activities and drive over the weekend executed perfectly and we started our planning today directly in front of a scarp, or wall, along a section of the upper Gediz Valis ridge known as “Pinnacle Ridge.” The view along this scarp did not disappoint!  Mastcam planned a large mosaic to image the top…

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3 min read Sols 4173-4174: Reflections This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4171 (2024-04-30 19:41:16 UTC). NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Wednesday, May 1, 2024 Today’s planning was a little out of the ordinary. Not in terms of the plan itself, Curiosity’s team built an exciting plan utilizing much of its science toolkit. Today’s plan was unusual rather due to my role as APXS PUDL Reverse Shadow (PUDL = Payload Uplink/Downlink Lead). While I normally staff the APXS PUDL role, the person on-shift responsible for…

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