NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover

De-Bayered L-MastCam mosaic - Assembled in MS-ICE

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk

Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm, during September 17, 2024 (Sol 4307). The camera focus motor count (returned with the image) can be used to calculate the camera standoff distance (camera lens to the target). In this case the standoff was close to 25 centimeters (~10 inches). This provides an image scale of ~95 micrometers per image pixel, or a scene width of ~15 centimeters (~6 inches). Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

Bright Rocks Catch Our Eyes - Curiosity Rover Blog for Sols 4307-4308

Earth planning date: Monday, September 16, 2024

We made good progress through Gediz Vallis in the weekend drive, landing in a segment of the channel containing a mix of loose rubble and other channel-filling debris. Amongst the jumbled scene, though, particular objects of interest caught our eye: bright rocks. In past workspaces in Gediz Vallis, similar bright rocks have been associated with very high to almost pure sulfur contents. As all good geologists know, however, color is not diagnostic, so we cannot assume these are the same as sulfur-rich rocks we have encountered previously. The only way to know is to collect data, and that was a significant focus of today’s plan.

We planned multiple mosaics across the examples of bright rocks visible in the image above. Mastcam and ChemCam RMI will cover “Bright Dot Lake” and “Sheep Creek” both in the right midfield of the image. Mastcam imaged the example in the bottom right corner of the image at "Marble Falls,” and ChemCam LIBS targeted one of the small bright fragments along the bottom of the image at "Blanc Lake.” There was also a small bit of bright material in the workspace, but unfortunately, it was not reachable by APXS. APXS analyzed a spot near the bright material, at target “Frog Lake,” and MAHLI was able to tack on a few extra images around that target that should capture the bright material. MAHLI also imaged a vuggy target in the workspace at “Grasshopper Flat.” The wider context of the channel was also of interest for imaging, so we captured the full expanse of the channel with one Mastcam mosaic, and focused another on mounds distributed through the channel at target "Copper Creek."

Even with all this rock imaging, we did not miss a beat with our environmental monitoring. We planned regular RAD, REMS, and DAN measurements, mid and late day atmospheric dust observations, a cloud movie, and dust devil imaging.

Our drive is planned to take us up onto one of the ridges in the channel. Will we find more bright rocks there? Or something new and unexpected that was delivered down Gediz Vallis by some past Martian flood or debris flow? Only the channel knows!

Written by Michelle Minitti, Planetary Geologist at Framework

Source for this blog and the archive of all blogs (with all the links and the original raw images etc): https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sols-4307-4308-bright-rocks-catch-our-eyes/

These blog updates are provided by self-selected Mars Science Laboratory mission team members who love to share what Curiosity is doing with the public.

Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Awaiting drive data and the location. While we're waiting for those details, I have assembled a selection of the post drive L-NavCam images into a small mosaic, clearly showing the low ridge in front of the rover that was discussed in the last mission update.

The reasons for the drive on sol 4306 are detailed in this mission update https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sols-4304-4006-12-years-42-drill-holes-and-now-1-million-chemcam-shots/

This drive was downslope to site 108.2792. The new site is 4.31 meters (14.14 ft) lower than the previous site 108.2528. The rover is pointing towards the Southwest (228.34°) The end-of-drive image is from the rover left-side navigation camera. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This data is updated and released by JPL via it's JSON URL's after each drive.

I import the JSON data into this table to make it easier to digest

If anyone wants to check the JSON, you can find it on this URL. https://mars.nasa.gov/mmgis-maps/MSL/Layers/json/MSL_waypoints.json

L-MastCam de-Bayered mosaic, roughly assembled in MS-ICE using 15 overlapping frames. It features the terrain accessible to the rover's robotic arm

credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/fredk

West Side of Upper Gediz Vallis, From Tungsten Hills to the Next Rocky Waypoint - Curiosity Rover Blog for Sols 4302-4303

Earth planning date: Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024

The rover is on its way from the Tungsten Hills site to the next priority site for Gediz Vallis channel exploration, in which we plan to get in close enough for arm science to one of the numerous large dark-toned "float" blocks in the channel and also to one of the light-toned slabs. We have seen some dark blocks in the channel that seem to be related to the Stimson formation material that the rover encountered earlier in the mission, but some seem like they could be something different. We don't think any of them originated in the channel so they have to come from somewhere higher up that the rover hasn't been, and we're interested in how they were transported down into the channel.

We aren't there yet, but the 4302-4303 plan's activities include some important longer-range characterization of the dark-toned and light-toned materials via imaging. Context for the future close-up science on the dark-toned blocks will be provided by the Mastcam mosaics named "Bakeoven Meadow" and "Balloon Dome." The broad Balloon Dome mosaic also covers a low dome-like structure formed by the light-toned slab-like rocks (pictured). Smaller mosaics will cover a pair of targets that include contacts where other types of light-toned and dark-toned material occur next to each other in the same block: "Rattlesnake Creek" which appears to be in place, and "Casa Diablo Hot Springs," which is a float.

The rover's arm workspace provided an opportunity for present-day aeolian science on the sandy-looking ripple, Sandy Meadow. Mastcam stereo imaging will document the shape of the ripple, while a suite of high-resolution MAHLI images will tell us something about the particle size of the grains in it. The modern environment will also be monitored via a suprahorizon observation, a dust devil survey, and imaging of the rover deck to look for dust movement.

The workspace included small examples of the dark float blocks, so the composition of one of them will be measured by both APXS and ChemCam LIBS as targets "Lucy's Foot Pass" and "Colt Lake" respectively.

In the meantime, the Mastcam Boneyard Meadow mosaic will provide a look back at the Tungsten Hills dark rippled block along its bedding plane to try to narrow down the origin of the ripples and the potential roles of water vs. wind in their formation.

Communication remains a challenge for the rover in this location. During planning, the rover's drive was shifted from the second sol to the first sol in order to increase the downlink data volume available for the post-drive imaging, thereby enabling better planning at the science waypoint we expect to reach in the weekend plan. However, maintaining communications will require the rover to end its drive in a narrow range of orientations, which could make approaching our next science target a bit tricky. We'll find out on Friday!

Written by: Lucy Lim, Planetary Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Edited by: Abigail Fraeman, Planetary Geologist at NASA-JPL

Source for this blog and the archive of all blogs (with all the links and the original raw images etc): https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sols-4302-4303-west-side-of-upper-gediz-vallis-from-tungsten-hills-to-the-next-rocky-waypoint/

These blog updates are provided by self-selected Mars Science Laboratory mission team members who love to share what Curiosity is doing with the public.

Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

On Monday 19th August 2024, the millionth laser shot on Mars by ChemCam, one of the instruments on NASA's Curiosity rover, was planned by French teams at CNES.

Two days later, on Wednesday August 21, at around 8.20 pm French time, the millionth ChemCam shot was fired at Mars. This was Sol 4281, the 4281st Martian day of the mission. The data were received on Thursday August 22nd for analysis by the American team.

The target of this millionth shot: a fragment of rock, named Royce Lakes, which was broken by the rover itself when it rolled over it. The whitish interior of the rock, contrasting with the orange-red appearance of the Martian surface, immediately caught the eye of the scientists.

Other recent observations were decisive in the choice of this target: sulfur crystals were discovered in a valley on Mount Sharp, which the rover is currently climbing. Scientists are wondering whether this rock will have the same properties...

As usual, several measurement points were made on this target, 5 in all. And on each point, several shots: 30 in all. Each shot provides new information and enriches the Martian composition database. This millionth shot represented the 11th shot on the 4th point.

ChemCam's mission is to measure the chemical composition and image the rocks and soil on the surface of Mars.

The French hardware contribution to ChemCam was built on a partnership between CNES, CNRS-INSU, several universities (Toulouse, Bordeaux, Paris, Lorraine, Lyon) and CEA. ChemCam is under the joint scientific responsibility of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico (USA), and the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP, France) of the Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées in Toulouse. CNES plays a major role in its operational and technical operation, in conjunction with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL, USA) and research laboratories on both sides of the Atlantic.

Read the full news release that includes additional images, and the spectra measured on this target on this link: https://cnes.fr/en/news/1-million-shots-chemcam-mars

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/CNES/LANL/IRAP/LPGN/IAS/CNRS/MSSS

Curiosity rover is exploring a scientifically exciting area on Mars, but communicating with the mission team on Earth has recently been a challenge due to both the current season and the surrounding terrain. In this Mars Report, Curiosity engineer Reidar Larsen takes you inside the uplink room where the team talks to the rover.

See why Curiosity’s location in Gediz Vallis channel makes it difficult to send direct commands — and how the team ensures they always stay connected to the rover. Curiosity landed in 2012 to look for evidence that Mars’ Gale Crater had the conditions to support microbial life in the ancient past. Curiosity has confirmed those conditions existed on the crater floor as well as on various parts of Mount Sharp, the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain within the crater that the rover has been ascending since 2014.

Rippled Pages - Curiosity Rover Blog for Sols 4300-4301

Earth planning date: Monday, Sept. 9, 2024

With today’s plan, Curiosity completes its most southerly planned exploration of the Gediz Vallis channel. From here, our rover will head north and climb out of the channel to explore terrain to the west. Our planned drive to the “Tungsten Hills” rocks, named for a famous mining district near Bishop, California, completed successfully over the weekend, placing a pile of unusual dark rocks within our workspace. Curiosity is currently in the “Bishop” quadrangle on our map, so all targets in this area of Mount Sharp are named after places in the Sierra Nevada and Owens Valley of California. On sols 4300-4301, Curiosity will perform a thorough examination of these rugged boulders, which are covered in paper-thin sedimentary layers like the pages of a book (see image). Some layers have intriguing ripple structures that may have formed in running water or windblown sand. These features are the prime targets for contact science and remote observation at this location.

On Sol 4300, Curiosity will obtain ChemCam laser spectra and Mastcam imagery on a part of the closest plate-like rock called “Bonita Flat,” after a high valley above the southern Kern River canyon in Sequoia National Forest. ChemCam will also obtain telescopic views of a section of the Gediz Vallis channel banks with its RMI camera. Mastcam will take a mosaic of the upper reaches of the channel, then turn its cameras on the interesting bedrock of “Coffeepot Canyon,” honoring a ravine along the precipitous East Fork of the Kaweah River canyon in Sequoia National Park, unfortunately now engulfed in a huge wildfire.

The first science block ends with atmospheric observations, including a dust-devil movie, supra-horizon cloud imaging, and Mastcam measurement of dust in the air across the crater. Curiosity will then use its arm to brush the dust from the closest block in an area dubbed “Pond Lily Lake,” for a petite meadow lake atop the canyon wall of the San Joaquin River, downstream of Devil’s Postpile National Monument. This cleared spot will then be imaged by MAHLI and Mastcam, and its composition will be measured by APXS spectroscopy. MAHLI will perform an intricate “dog’s eye” maneuver to obtain detailed images of ripples in “Window Cliffs,” named after sheer walls above the spectacular fault-controlled Kern River canyon west of 14,505-foot Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the lower 48 states. MAHLI wraps up a very full day of work by imaging the scalloped edge of the largest nearby block, dubbed “Boneyard Meadow” for a wetland in the western Sierra foothills where many sheep sadly perished due to a late spring snowstorm in 1877.

Early on sol 4301, Curiosity will use Mastcam to thoroughly document the Tungsten Hills in pre-sunrise morning light. Later in the day, a second science block starts with ChemCam spectroscopy and Mastcam imagery of “Castle Domes,” honoring the granite domes of Castle Valley, acclaimed as some of the most beautiful mountain scenery in Kings Canyon National Park. ChemCam RMI will perform telescopic observations of the channel floor. Mastcam will look for possible sulfur rocks at the base of the Tungsten Hills blocks in a target named “Hummingbird Lake,” for an alpine lake at 10,000 feet between Bloody and Lundy Canyons near Mono Lake. This science block of the plan ends with Navcam deck monitoring, dust measurement, and a large dust-devil survey. Curiosity will then drive north, taking a MARDI “sidewalk” video of the terrain under the rover during the drive.

Written by Deborah Padgett, OPGS Task Lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Source for this blog and the archive of all blogs (with all the links and the original raw images etc): https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sols-4300-4301-rippled-pages/

These blog updates are provided by self-selected Mars Science Laboratory mission team members who love to share what Curiosity is doing with the public.

Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This Way to Tungsten Hills - Curiosity Rover Blog for Sols 4297-4299

Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 6, 2024

Curiosity completed an impressive 60-meter drive (about 197 feet) across the channel floor within Gediz Vallis and parked along the edge of a shallow linear depression. Just about 20 meters (66 feet) away, an intriguing dark, textured rock named “Tungsten Hills” is the destination for our weekend drive and our contact science on Monday. Today I served as the “Keeper of the Plan” for the Geology theme group and worked with the science team to compile a variety of contact science and targeted science in this three-sol plan.

Contact science in our immediate workspace includes a joint effort by MAHLI and APXS to characterize a gray rock with two targets named “Big Baldy” and “Big Bird Lake.” ChemCam focused its Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument on a rock with a reddish coating, “Purple Creek,” and a light-toned rock, “Garlic Meadow,” to determine their chemical composition. ChemCam included a long distance RMI image of the yardang unit that caps Mount Sharp as well as a standard post-drive AEGIS activity, which allows autonomous target selection for upcoming geochemical spectrometry.

The Mastcam team assembled several beautiful mosaics to document Curiosity’s surroundings. One mosaic will extend the imaging of the current workspace and is planned at dusk to take advantage of the diffuse lighting. Two separate mosaics, one of which is in stereo, will characterize the floor of the depression in front of Tungsten Hills to investigate the exposed light rocks and document depositional processes. Finally, a stereo mosaic will image Tungsten Hills and the surrounding terrain in advance of our approach over the weekend.

With the weekend plan in place the science team will now patiently wait for data to be returned and for planning to resume on Monday!

Written by Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Source for this blog and the archive of all blogs (with all the links and the original raw images etc): https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sols-4297-4299-this-way-to-tungsten-hills/

These blog updates are provided by self-selected Mars Science Laboratory mission team members who love to share what Curiosity is doing with the public.

Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UofA

NASA/JPL-Caltech

10 overlapping images NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk

Sol 4298: Front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Front Hazcam) after a drive to site 108.2162,

Waiting data for the drive (at this time)

Close up - MAHLI camera standoff ~25 cm.

Image scale ~95 micrometers per pixel, or a scene width of ~15 cm (6 inches)

Image rotated to closer match those from the rover's other cameras

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Assembled from 10 overlapping Bayer reconstructed L-MastCam subframe images. For those who missed the earlier mission update, the L-MastCam has a stuck filter wheel, so about half of the full frame images are now obscured by the jammed filter wheel. Luckily the team can command sub-frame images, but they need more images to build the mosaics. You'll also note that the images have slightly darker borders which MS-ICE sometimes fails to blend during assembly, but it's great we can still get some great images from the camera. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk

One of many darker float rocks just beyond the rover's workspace. This mosaic was assembled using MS-ICE and then cropped from a larger mosaic. The crop is made up of around 6 overlapping Bayer-reconstructed R-MastCam full frames. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk

After a walkabout studying the local terrain, Curiosity heads back South along its notional path

When the rover reaches a new location the team often commands a MastCam mosaic of the terrain in the direction of the rover's notional path (towards its next waypoint). I believe this is likely one of those occasions.

Roughly assembled from 15 overlapping Bayer reconstructed L-MastCam images. Looks like the rover basically repositioned on the same piece of bedrock (sol 4293) so they could reach certain targets with the instruments and tools on the robotic arm