MARS: CURIOSITY u krateru GALE

Sols 1269-1270: Approaching Naukluft Plateau

1 March 2016

Here is Monday’s blog post (can we blame the delay on leap day?).  Curiosity is currently making her way toward the Naukluft Plateau, and Monday’s plan was full of driving and remote sensing.  On the first sol, Curiosity will acquire ChemCam and Mastcam observations of the target “Swartpunt.”  Then we’ll drive toward the Naukluft Plateau, and acquire post-drive imaging to prepare for future targeting and document the Murray formation along the way.  The second sol includes a number of ChemCam calibration activities, and a Navcam movie to monitor the atmosphere above Mount Sharp.  We’ll also acquire a large Mastcam mosaic to study the stratigraphy exposed on the east side of the Naukluft Plateau.
I’ve been working MER operations this week, so it’s been fun to check in and see what’s happening on the other side of the planet!
By Lauren Edgar
--Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of MSL science team.

Užasno teška dionica...Nekoliko mojih prijedloga za prijevoz. Nema se baš nekog pametnog izbora. 

Panorama, 9,2 MB, 360°

 

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1497/24904010093_c9ec7d3f84_o.jpg

Isto, 36,2 MB

Sols 1273-1274: Driving up to the Naukluft Plateau

4 March 2016
We are planning only 2 sols today because tactical operations will transition to nominal next week (working all 5 weekdays). On Sol 1273, Mastcam will acquire a multispectral image of the contact between the Murray and Stimson geologic units.  This set of images, taken using all of the Mastcam filters, will be acquired just after noon, when the illumination of the contact should be better than in previous images.  Then ChemCam and Mastcam will observe bedrock targets "Kleinberg" and "Tumas 2" and Mastcam will acquire a stereo mosaic of a low ridge southwest of the rover.  Later in the afternoon, the arm will go to work doing contact science:   First, MAHLI will take images of a bedrock target named "Schwarzrand" before the DRT brushes it off.  The MAHLI will acquire a full suite of images of the brushed spot and of Kleinberg before the APXS is placed on Kleinberg for a couple 2-hour integrations.  Then the APXS will be moved over to Schwarzrand for an overnight integration. 
The Sol 1274 plan starts with a drive toward the plateau to the southwest of the vehicle, followed by imaging needed to plan contact science in the new location.  Post-drive images of the likely drive direction will also be acquired, in case we decide not to do contact science on Monday.

I've been traveling so have not been able to keep up with MSL's progress lately.  It was good to catch up today!

by Ken Herkenhoff

Da se podsjetimo...Čudo od tehnike. 

Sols 1275-1276: Interesting Veins and Textures

8 March 2016

The weekend drive went well, and put us in a great location for some contact science, right near the contact between the “Murray” and “Stimson” formations, with some interesting veins and textures in the nearby rocks. Given our nice location, we opted not to do any driving in the Sol 1275 plan and instead study the area in front of us.
The Sol 1275 plan started off with a ChemCam passive sky observation and ChemCam LIBS and RMI observations of the targets “Palmhorst”, “Palmwag”, and “Mirabib”. Mastcam took documentation images of each of the ChemCam targets, plus a couple of mosaics of the Murray-Stimson contact. Later in the day, MAHLI took some images of Mirabib before and after brushing the dust off, as well as mosaics of Palmwag and Palmhorst. APXS then analyzed the composition of Palmwag and then did an overnight measurement of Mirabib.
In today’s plan, our goal is to place the rover in position to study some interesting knobby textures. Prior to the drive, Navcam will do some atmospheric measurements and ChemCam will analyze the targets “Duruchaus”, “Eiseb”, and “Aranos”. As usual, Mastcam will take some documentation images of the ChemCam targets. Mastcam also has a mosaic of fine laminations in the rock at the Murray-Stimson contact, another mosaic to extend the coverage of the contact, and a small 2x1 mosaic of Mirabib and nearby veins using all of Mastcam’s science filters. After that, we will do a short drive toward the knobby texture followed by post-drive imaging. The knobby texture is not in a great position for us to continue driving after we analyze it, so we’ll likely return back to our current position before continuing up onto Naukluft plateau.
by Ryan Anderson
-Ryan is a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the ChemCam team on MSL.