Happy Halloween from Mars! Over the weekend Curiosity drove 51 m further to the south, and we continue to investigate the Murray formation. I was the GSTL and KOP today (what a treat!) and we had a busy morning trying to decide whether or not to do contact science or more remote sensing. We decided to forego contact science in favor of some additional ChemCam and Mastcam observations. In the spirit of Halloween, today’s targets include "Witch Hole Pond" and "Blackwoods" to assess the chemistry of the Murray formation and to investigate some interesting sedimentary structures. We’ll also use Mastcam for environmental monitoring to measure the opacity of the atmosphere. Then Curiosity will drive about 30 m to the south, and we’ll take post-drive imaging to prepare for targeting and the potential for touch-and-go contact science tomorrow. Overnight, Curiosity will be working the graveyard shift to perform another CheMin analysis of the "Sebina" sample. Happy Halloween!

By Lauren Edgar

--Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the MSL science team.

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.

Everything went well in yesterday’s plan, with our drive taking us 25 meters farther along our "Mt. Sharp Ascent Route." We started the day with some challenges caused by connectivity issues with team members outside of the US, particularly the ChemCam team. They were able to get at least one computer connected to JPL, however, so we were able to plan without too much trouble overall. Today’s plan for sol 1503 is pretty straightforward: We start off with a ChemCam observation and Mastcam documentation of the target "Somesville" to study how the composition of the bedrock changes across a light-to-dark transition. After that, we will drive and then do post-drive imaging, including some extra Mastcam and Navcam coverage. I dialed in to operations today to advocate adding a couple of Navcam images of Mt. Sharp so that over the weekend we can do a long-distance RMI observation. by Ryan Anderson -Ryan is a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the ChemCam team on MSL. 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

Yesterday’s 46 meter drive went well, and the plan for Sol
1502 is to have another pretty typical remote sensing and driving sol. The Sol
1502 plan starts out with ChemCam observations of the bedrock target "St.
Saveur" and an interesting transition between light-toned and dark-toned
alteration called "The Tam". Mastcam will document those two targets, and then
collect mosaics of two Murray bedrock targets "Cranberry Island" and "Otter
Cliff". After that, Navcam and Mastcam have some observations to continue
monitoring the amount of dust in the atmosphere, and Mastcam will also add to
the Sol 1501 drive direction mosaic. After that, Curiosity has a short drive
that should put us in position on a small hill, followed by some post-drive
imaging.

On Sol 1500 Curiosity drove 30 m to the south, crossing into a quadrangle that we informally named "Bar Harbor," after Bar Harbor, Maine. As a reminder, prior to landing we divided up the landing ellipse and nearby areas into square quads (1.5 km on a side), and assigned each quad a name of a town with a population of less than 100,000 people. As Curiosity investigates rock targets within a quad, we assign names to the targets that correspond to geologic formations and features from that town on Earth. After driving through the "Windhoek" quad for quite some time, we are now in the "Bar Harbor" quad, and the naming scheme will follow names from that town.

Today’s plan is another remote sensing and driving sol. The plan begins with ChemCam observations of "The Bubbles" and "The Bowl" to characterize the local Murray bedrock. Then we’ll acquire Mastcam mosaics of "Gilmore Peak" and "Long Pond" to assess some possible cross-stratification in the Murray formation. After another drive to the south, we’ll acquire post-drive imaging, which includes Navcam and Mastcam drive-direction mosaics (with some additional frames to capture more of the "Gilmore Peak" outcrop), a Navcam mosaic of the ChemCam targetable region, a Mastcam clast survey, and a standard MARDI image for documentation of the terrain below the rover. Overnight, Curiosity will carry out a CheMin analysis of the "Sebina" sample.

By Lauren Edgar

--Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the MSL science team.

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.

Over the weekend Curiosity completed her investigation of the "Sebina" drill site, and we’re back on the road again. Before we hit the road we took another MAHLI image of the drill hole, and noticed just how quickly the wind has swept away the fines. The two images above were taken one sol apart. Looks like a windy day on Mars!

Today’s plan is focused on targeted remote sensing and driving. The morning science block includes ChemCam observations on the targets "Ranaka" and "Seleka" to assess the composition of the local bedrock. It also includes several Mastcam mosaics to investigate sedimentary structures. Then we’ll aim to drive for about 30 m to continue working our way up Mt. Sharp. After the drive we’ll take standard post-drive imaging for targeting and context. Hard to believe it’s been 1500 sols already!

By Lauren Edgar

--Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the MSL science team.

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.

Yesterday’s plan went well and we have a new drill hole on
Mars! The plan for Sol 1496 starts with a ChemCam passive observation of the
dump pile of material from "Quela", our previous drill hole. ChemCam also has
passive observations of the tailings from the new hole at "Sebina", followed by
active observations using the laser. Mastcam then has some observations of the
tailings and dump pile, plus an image to monitor the sand and dust on the rover
deck, and a couple of atmospheric observations. Also in the 1496 plan, the
drill sample from "Sebina" will be dropped off in CheMin, and MAHLI will take
pictures of the drill hole and the CheMin inlet. Overnight, CheMin will analyze
the sample while APXS analyzes the drill tailings. by Ryan Anderson -Ryan is a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the ChemCam team on MSL. 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

The thumbnail of the Sol 1494 MAHLI image
showed that the Quela dump pile had been moved by the wind again! The
MAHLI team is concerned that windblown sand and dust might damage or contaminate the
camera's optics, so they decided to open the MAHLI dust cover only for
images taken from 25 cm or more above the surface.
Otherwise there are no concerns and a full drill hole is planned at
Sebina on Sol 1495, with close-up MAHLI images taken through the dust
cover window. As usual, the other MSL cameras will take images of the
drill hole after the arm is moved out of the way.
The drill sample will then be processed and transferred to the scoop
for inspection by the Left Mastcam. It's a full plan that again
requires significant power, but the tactical team was able to squeeze in
a few change-detection images to watch for further
changes in the dump pile.

by Ken Herkenhoff 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.

When we looked at the latest data from MSL this morning, we noticed that the MAHLI and ChemCam RMI images of the Quela dump pile were unexpectedly offset from the center
of the pile. After looking at more of the recent images, it became
clear that the dump pile had been moved by winds! So we put together
plans to repeat the ChemCam passive observation and APXS integration on
the dump pile at its new position, but ultimately were not able to fit
the ChemCam passive into the plan due to power limitations. We didn't
want to put off the strategically-planned cross-contamination
experiment, which requires significant power. Hopefully the wind won't
blow away the dump pile before APXS can measure its chemical
composition!

by Ken Herkenhoff

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.

The activities planned for last weekend went well, so preparations for
drilling continued on Sol 1493. In the morning, a Right Mastcam mosaic
of a ridge to the west of the rover will be followed by a passive
ChemCam spectral measurement of the sieved fraction
of the Quela drill sample. ChemCam and the Right Mastcam will also
observe a nearby bedrock exposure named "Mavinga," and Mastcam will
acquire a full multispectral set of images of "Cahama." In the
afternoon, Mastcam will measure the amount of dust in the
atmosphere and Navcam will search for dust devils north of the rover.
Later, CHIMRA will be cleaned out and MAHLI will image the Quela dump
pile up close. Finally, the APXS will be placed on the dump pile for an
overnight integration.

by Ken Herkenhoff

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.

With the weekend plan, we officially started our drill
campaign on the target "Sebina," so we will be staying in this location through
the week. On Sol 1491 we dumped out the post-sieve sample from our previous
drill hole at "Quela", and did some brushing on Sebina, followed by APXS and
MAHLI imaging.

On Sol 1492, the rover did a lot of remote sensing, starting
off with an early morning suite of atmospheric observations using Navcam and
Mastcam. Mastcam also had a 360 degree mosaic from our current location. In the
afternoon on Sol 1492, Mastcam had a multispectral observation of Sebina and a
couple more atmospheric dust measurements. ChemCam then had a passive sky
observation, followed by analysis of Sebina as well as to concretions named "Musserra"
and "Mussende". This was followed by a Mastcam documentation mosaic of all
three targets.

And that was all! Even though this was a weekend plan which
would normally cover three sols, Sunday was a "soliday" which means there was
no planning. This allows our schedule on Earth to sync back up with Mars so we
can plan every day this week. by Ryan Anderson -Ryan is a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the ChemCam team on MSL. 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