MARS: CURIOSITY u krateru GALE

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.

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Sol 1277: Nodules!

9 March 2016

Our drive yesterday was a success, putting us right on the contact between the “Murray” and “Stimson” units, and in reach of some very interesting nodules. The plan today is mostly focused on studying those nodules. ChemCam has an observation of a nodule and neighboring bedrock at the target “Vogelfederberg” followed by a “depth profile” on one of the nodules named “Verbrandeberg”. For the depth profile, we will only analyze two locations on the target, but we will shoot each location with the laser 150 times instead of the normal 30 shots. These extra shots allow us to measure changes in the chemistry in the outer surface of the target. After the depth profile, ChemCam will analyze two other nodule and bedrock locations named “Maieberg” and “Mikberg”. Mastcam will take documentation images of all of these targets.
Later in the day, we will use MAHLI to take some images of a nodule named “Sperrgebiet”’, plus a broader mosaic of the nodular texture. APXS will then measure the composition of Sperrgebiet and the neighboring bedrock. Tomorrow the plan is to back out of our current location and then drive 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.

Sol 1278: Nodules: Take 2

10 March 2016

Our APXS observation of the nodules in yesterday’s plan didn’t go exactly as planned: it was slightly misaligned with the nodule we were trying to analyze, so the measurement was mostly of the neighboring bedrock. That meant planning today started with a discussion of whether the chemistry from ChemCam was sufficient, or if we should spend another day and nail the APXS measurement as well. In the end we decided to try again and make sure we get all the data we want about the nodules before moving on.
The Sol 1278 plan starts with ChemCam analyses and Mastcam images of the targets “Tsarabis”, “Lofdal”, “Kunene”, and “Nababis”. Mastcam also has two mosaics to capture the contact between the “Murray” and “Stimson” formations and the transition from knobby nodule-rich bedrock to less nodule-rich bedrock. After that, MAHLI will collect images of the nodule targets “Sperrgebiet”, “Maieberg”, and “Konigstein” and APXS will try again to do an overnight measurement of the composition of Sperrgebiet. Since this is the second try, the rover planners have yesterday’s data to work with and should be able to place the APXS more accurately. If all goes well, we should be able to wrap up at this location and drive away in the weekend plan!
by Ryan Anderson
-Ryan is a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the ChemCam team on MSL.

Sols 1279-1281: Climbing up onto Naukluft Plateau

11 March 2016
It’s time to wrap up our investigation of the interesting nodules at the contact between the Murray and Stimson formations and resume driving!
The weekend starts off focused mostly on contact science. On Sol 1279, APXS will analyze two neighboring locations on a group of nodules collectively called “Khomas”, and then on Sol 1280 APXS will analyze a third location on Khomas. MAHLI will collect supporting images, and will also take some pictures of the targets “Etendeka” and “Maieberg”.
In the morning on Sol 1280, the rover will make some atmospheric measurements using Navcam, Mastcam, and ChemCam, followed by a 20-spot ChemCam analysis of the target “Marienfluss”, right across the Murray-Stimson contact. Mastcam will take a support image of Marienfluss, plus a small mosaic of a target called “Kerpfenkliff”.
Then on Sol 1281, we will get moving again with a ~70 meter drive that should take us up onto the Naukluft plateau. During the drive, MARDI will collect some images of the terrain underneath the rover. After the drive we have post-drive imaging, and I added a request for some Navcam images of Mt. Sharp to help target potential long distance ChemCam RMI images next week. 
by Ryan Anderson
-Ryan is a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the ChemCam team on MSL.

Ero wrote:.
Then on Sol 1281, we will get moving again with a ~70 meter drive that should take us up onto the Naukluft plateau.

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