Revenge of the Wheels Sol 3458 by Ken Herkenhoff | Planetary Geologist - USGS Astrogeology Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 29, 2022
While angular, pointy rocks have damaged the rover's wheels since early in the MSL mission, sometimes the wheels damage rocks as the rover drives over them. As seen especially at the upper left side of this image, the bedrock was scraped and fractured by the rover during the Sol 3456 drive. Unfortunately, that drive did not complete as planned, but the tactical team took advantage of the situation by targeting observations of the freshly-exposed rock surfaces. First, the APXS will be placed on a scrape mark named "Cow Head" to measure its elemental chemistry, then MAHLI will take a full suite of images of the same target. MAHLI will also take some images of a rock fragment "Orton Scar" that was broken off a bedrock slab. Hopefully textural details will be more visible on these fresh faces than on the nearby undisturbed, dustier rocks. We will also take advantage of our new location to take Mastcam images of Maringma Butte, as the rover is closer to that outcrop than expected. Mastcam will also acquire multispectral sets of images of the Cow Head and Orton Scar contact science targets. Navcam will search for dust devils and characterize the dustiness of the atmosphere toward the north before the rover drives again. After the drive and the typical post-drive imaging, MARDI will again acquire a twilight image of the ground behind the left front wheel. So overall it was a busy but ultimately satisfying day for me as SOWG Chair.
Back Through the Buttes! Sols 3456-3457 Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 27, 2022 Our weekend drive brought us successfully to our planned stop. The priority in this Touch and Go drive plan is to image the buttes which surround us. Mastcam will image "Blackcraig" and "Maringma" buttes which lie on our left and right respectively as we continue to head down from the pediment, and "Deepdale" butte which is ahead of us in the distance. Although we have imaged Blackcraig and Maringma previously, these new images will add to the dataset, allowing investigation of the structures from ... read more
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |