MARS: CURIOSITY u krateru GALE Vol II.

sol 1555

Sols 1566-1568: Preparing for the holidays

21 December 2016

Today was our last tactical planning day before the team takes a break over the holidays.  But that doesn’t mean that Curiosity will be resting!  A group of science team members and operations staff assembled an 8-sol plan that will execute over December 22-30, focused on environmental monitoring and change detection.  Today’s tactical planning was aimed at creating a 3-sol plan that will take place over New Year’s, from December 31- January 2.  When we return to normal operations on January 3, we’ll dive right back in to a campaign investigating some interesting fracture patterns at “Old Soaker,” seen in the Mastcam image above.
Today’s 3-sol plan starts with Mastcam multispectral observations of the targets “Old Soaker” and “Schooner Head” to assess their red and gray color variations.  This is followed by a Navcam observation to search for dust devils.  Then ChemCam will target “Moore Harbor” and “Northeast Harbor” to look for variations in chemistry.  In the afternoon, we’ll use MAHLI to investigate the grain size and sedimentary structures at “Bar Island,” Thompson Island,” and “Mill Field,” and overnight we’ll let APXS integrate on “Mill Field” and “Thompson Island.”  On the second sol, we’ll move the APXS to “Bar Island” for an overnight integration, along with a SAM electrical baseline test.  On the third sol we’ll retract the arm to enable additional remote sensing of the workspace, including ChemCam on “Goose Cove,” “Deep Cove,” and “Dix Point,” a small Mastcam mosaic, and some environmental monitoring observations.  It should be a busy week for Curiosity, and I’m looking forward to seeing all of the exciting data that she’ll collect while the team is enjoying a break.  It’s been quite the year for our rover: we have drilled six holes, performed two scoops, driven 3 km, and climbed 85 vertical meters!  I can’t wait to see what 2017 will bring. This will be the last blog until January 3 when we resume normal operations.  Until then – may your sols be merry and bright, and safe travels as you rove into the New Year!
By Lauren Edgar
--Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the MSL science team.

Ove brojke sa solovima mi nisu baš jasne. Izgleda da su već počeli pretjerivati s pićem...

Space Station Crew Celebrates the Holidays Aboard the Orbital Lab

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson of NASA and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency discussed their thoughts about being in space during the holidays and how they plan to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s in a downlink message recorded Dec. 12. Kimbrough arrived on the complex in October, followed a month later by Whitson and Pesquet.

Ovako je bio viđen dio Mt. Sharp, s viljnom ravninom...pozicja sol 953

Gornja fotogrfija je s nimljena s ove pozicije...nešto poslije istražianja Parhump Hills!

Internal debris may be causing problem with Mars rover’s drill

December 29, 2016 Stephen Clark
       

File photo of Curiosity’s drill bit from Feb. 24, 2015. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS


http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/12/29/internal-debris-may-be-causing-problem-with-mars-rovers-drill/

Svim Marsovcima, ma gdje bili, želi sretnu i uspješnu Novu godinu.

Detalj. Dimenzije ~3x2,5 cm. Snimljeno kamerom MAHLI.

Sol 1569: Back to daily planning

3 January 2017
The MSL operations team is back at work after the holiday break, planning Sol 1569.  The activities planned for the holidays executed well, so we are proceeding with the investigation of the ridge/fracture patterns at Old Soaker.  First, ChemCam and Mastcam will observe the ridges at "Beech Mountain" and Navcam will search for clouds.  Then MAHLI will take close-up images of a grey patch named "Eagle Lake" and a full suite of images of Beech Mountain.  MAHLI will also acquire images from 25 cm and 5 cm of an area without ridge patterns dubbed "Hodgdon Pond" and another interesting feature called "Huguenot Head," as well as a single oblique image of "Squeaker Cove" from 15 cm.  The APXS will be placed on Beech Mountain for a short integration, then on Eagle Lake for an overnight integration.  Lots of good contact science to start the new year!

by Ken Herkenhoff

APXSpektrometrija...

sol 1571...prevoženo cca 20 m naprijed...konačno ...