Curiosity is back on the road! The arm (seen above while conducting science activities on sol 3583) is good to go, so the team planned a full day of activities. Curiosity has been sitting in the same place for a few sols, so the team has been taking advantage of that to get extra observations in this area.

One Mastcam observation is an extension of a mosaic ("Parai Pond") that was started last week. Additionally, there is a Mastcam multispectral observation in the plan to capture bedrock that shows color variations. We will get a closer look at a feature in the distance that is thought to be an inverted channel with a ChemCam long distance RMI. ChemCam will also target the "Kurupung" block in the workspace.

The ChemCam team is taking advantage of spending several sols in one location to build up their statistics of the geochemistry in this area. By targeting multiple rocks in the scene, we will get a better understanding as to whether everything has the same chemistry or if there are small variations. Contact science is back in the mix, with a MAHLI observation of an interesting pink pebble in the workspace called "Piabas." We also get back on the road in this plan, with a short seven meter drive that will take the rover to the edge of the next area of interest. Onwards!

Sols 3589-3591: There's Plenty to See Around Here
by Lauren Edgar, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center
Curiosity is back to planning after an issue with the rover's arm in last weekend's plan. The engineers are still making sure we understand what happened before doing more contact science or driving. That means that today's 3-sol plan is focused on remote sensing and environmental monitoring, and there is a lot to see in this area! Curiosity is in a beautiful valley with intriguing buttes in every direction, some interesting bedrock blocks in our workspace, and windblown fines scattered throughout. The diverse landscape can be seen in the above Navcam image.

I was on shift as SOWG Chair today, and the team planned a lot of great science observations. On the first sol, GEO planned ChemCam LIBS of a bedrock block, as well as a Mastcam multispectral observation, and some imaging of loose sediment to look for changes. The plan also includes Mastcam imaging of sedimentary structures and diagenetic features, and bedding within the Chenapau butte and adjacent channel. GEO also planned a MARDI image to look for changes in the past week.

The second sol includes two long distance ChemCam RMI mosaics to investigate the stratigraphy at a butte named Deepdale, featured in the above Navcam image. The third sol includes another LIBS target on a bedrock block, and a Mastcam mosaic to assess bedrock weathering. In addition to characterizing the geology and geochemistry, ENV is going to keep the rover busy looking at the sky. The team planned observations to monitor dust in the atmosphere, search for dust devils, monitor clouds, and search for cosmic rays. Looks like a busy weekend on Mars!

Sols 3582-3585: Labor of love
by Michelle Minitti, Planetary Geologist at Framework
It is tempting to list off the multitude of science observations the Curiosity team planned for the four sols that cover the Labor Day weekend in the US - an astonishing 15 targets, hundreds of Mastcam images, dozens of RMI images, and more than 2 Gb of science data collected. But rather than writing my usual summary of our activities for a plan, it feels more apt given the holiday to focus on the people who made it happen - the kind of people who have been showing up for 10 years to make all the science Curiosity does possible.

Downlink leads like Trinh and Matt, and localization scientists like Tim and Scott give us the data to make any new planning possible. They figure out things like: just where did our drive end up? what rocks can we reach with the arm? what targets are safe for ChemCam to shoot? where can we drive next? These folks quite literally set the scene for the plan ahead.

Scientists like Aster, Amelie, and Lucy show up to see the new scene, quickly digest what is there: what matters to building our understanding of this place? what is interesting? what is new? They suggest observations to capture those targets. Scientists like Bill and Alex show up that have been keeping track of the structures and buttes around us for hundreds or even thousands of sols. They suggest observations that build on previous ones, digging into features and structures we only now see as we approach this topography.

Scientists like Mike and Mark show up to ensure our dedicated watch on the Martian atmosphere and environment continues, creating a systematic dataset of surface conditions that builds a modern climate record for Mars. Led by our science theme leads Jeff and Claire, everyone has to rapidly triage and prioritize their observations, and make trades against how much time and power are available in the plan.

The uplink leads like Deirdra, Natalie, and Cindy are magic mixtures of scientists and engineers that know how to make the most out of their instruments' observations and write the commands to make them happen.

They work hand in hand with the scientists to idealize all the desired observations to idealize their desired observations: is this at the right time of day? is this enough coverage? are these images of sufficient resolution? Often, multiple iterations are required to plan a scientifically-valuable, practically-executable observation. The uplink leads translate science desires to camera parameters and laser settings, and translate camera parameters and laser settings to code that travels through the Deep Space Network for the rover to execute.

Rover planners like Evan and Ashley are the engineers who design every motion of rover hardware. They figure out how to position the DRT, MAHLI, and APXS - located on a 50 kg turret at the end of a 2 meter long robotic arm - mere centimeters over a rock target. They figure out how to drive safely across jumbled, rocky terrain with wheels that have holes you could put your hand through, and end up in the next scientifically interesting spot. They model and remodel and tweak and change a dizzying array of arm angles, slip limits, and drive paths that ultimately give Curiosity life and motion on Mars.

All of it is buttoned up by the uplink team at JPL, who keeps tabs on everything related to rover health and functionality from our communication passes with the orbiters, to battery and current levels, to the amount of data storage available. Witnessing Nicky, the Science Planner in charge of checking and confirming every action in the plan during our main planning meeting today, was like watching a track athlete in a 5000 meter race - perfect, unrelenting pacing resulting in victory (a successful plan).

I could only list a small fraction of the names of those on shift today to build Curiosity's weekend plan. Please know, though, that every time you visit the MSL website, or see images from Curiosity on Twitter or Insta, that a team like today's was responsible for them. It is our collective labor of love, executed on a mountain in a crater on a planet a hundred million miles away.

Related Links
Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more

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An Unexpected Stop during Sols 3580-3581
Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 01, 2022
We kicked off Curiosity operations this morning with the news that our previous drive did not complete as planned. Some of the sand in the area caused the rover to veer ever-so-slightly off course, which then caused the right side of the vehicle to just clip the edge of a large rock. When the onboard safety check sensed the wheels were climbing a feature larger than anticipated, Curiosity stopped mid-drive to await further instructions. Fortunately, the human operators back on Earth could see ther ... read more