Curiosity is back on top of the Vera Rubin Ridge once more, having completed our drive over the weekend as we move toward our next drilling target in the "Pettegrove Point" geological member. This Navcam image shows the occasionally steep edge of the Vera Rubin Ridge on the left side of the image and the dusty haze beyond it that has shrunk our horizons for the last few weeks.

Today's 2-sol plan involved contact science with APXS on rock targets "Dumbarton Rock", "Duntarvie Castle", and "Duntelchaig" and four ChemCam LIBS rasters on nearby targets. After climbing back onto the ridge, there is no lack of interesting bedrock targets nearby and the ground is much smoother and suitable for driving compared to where we've been for the last many weeks while we studied our "Duluth" drill hole and its surroundings.

As ENV science lead today, I continued our dust storm campaign with a variety of measurements of atmospheric dust opacity (which has continued a very slow decline from a peak about 2 weeks ago). We've had to alter existing measurement techniques for measuring dust opacity and create new ones to account for the high amounts of dust in the atmosphere and the corresponding low light levels at the surface. But this also affords us new opportunities to study the properties of dust particles themselves.

Curiosity stopped its drive a bit earlier than anticipated. It so happens that the autonomous software onboard Curiosity designed to keep it driving safely kicked in and ended the drive short of the planned distance. When things like this happen, it's a bit of a setback to science, but keeping the rover safe is priority number one. Not only did the drive stop short, but Curiosity actually ended up in a location where there wasn't a good surface model, triggering the Slip Risk Assessment Process (SRAP) to fail. A failed SRAP means that Curiosity cannot safely carryout any arm-based activities, so the science team resorted to remote sensing activities using the cameras and ChemCam to continue to assess the Vera Rubin Ridge.

In this three sol plan, Curiosity will first carry out a host of remote sensing activities including 5 ChemCam activities, Mastcam documentation images of the ChemCam locations and a small Mastcam mosaic of a layered rock outcrop on the horizon. On the second sol, the rover will make good progress driving along the previously planned path using only the existing terrain surface model that is available. The usual suite of post-drive imaging to help decide science targets in the next plan will also be acquired. Importantly, as the dust storm on Mars continues to affect Curiosity, activities designed to monitor the amount of dust in the atmosphere will remain a priority and be made as frequently as possible.

After a steep drive Sol 2094, Curiosity is back over the crest of Vera Rubin Ridge and enjoying the view of flatter terrain ahead. I was the SOWG Chair on this late slide sol, which means that we started planning 3.5 hours later than usual. Everything was going smoothly and we were excited to plan some potential contact science, until we found a rock under the left front wheel that might make Curiosity unstable during arm activities. So at the last minute we swapped out MAHLI and APXS activities for some additional remote sensing. We still packed a lot of science into the two-sol plan, and we'll have another opportunity to do contact science in the weekend plan.

The first sol includes ChemCam and Mastcam observations of "Crosby" and "Hekkla Lake" to characterize the bedrock at this location. This plan is also full of atmospheric observations to monitor the ongoing dust storm, which will provide some great data from the surface regarding this unique event. We also planned Mastcam imaging of the rover deck to monitor the accumulation and movement of fine material, as well as a number of ChemCam calibration activities under high atmospheric opacity conditions. Then Curiosity will continue driving to the south and will acquire post-drive imaging to prepare for the weekend plan. Overnight, CheMin will carry out the last analysis of the Duluth drill sample. The second sol includes more atmospheric monitoring and calibration activities, along with a ChemCam AEGIS observation to autonomously target bedrock in our new location. Hoping for clearer skies and fewer loose rocks under our wheels!

Today's 2-sol plan kicked off with the good news that our power state exceeded predictions, so we were able to add in some extra science activities. The first sol starts with several remote sensing activities to continue to monitor the ongoing dust storm. Then the team planned several ChemCam observations of "Mudhole Lake," "Jacobs Lake," and "Monker Lake" to assess the bedrock chemistry and search for evaporites, followed by Mastcam documentation. In the afternoon, Curiosity will acquire a short multispectral tau observation to measure the optical depth of the atmosphere and constrain aerosol scattering properties. Given the extra power today, but without many appealing contact science targets, the team decided to get an APXS calibration target observation overnight. On the second sol Curiosity will continue driving up the steep slope to the south, followed by post-drive imaging and further atmospheric observations. I'll be on duty for the next plan, so I spent today getting caught up on everything that Curiosity has been up to!

Despite the global dust storm (more correctly known as a "planet encircling dust event") darkening the skies, our nuclear-powered rover continues to do good science. The sol 2090 plan begins with the first of several Navcam observations of the dusty atmosphere over the weekend, followed by ChemCam observations of the targets "Caribou Lake," "Simar,"and "Arlberg". ChemCam also will image the target "Young Lake" again. Mastcam will take individual pictures of the ChemCam targets on Arlberg and Caribou Lake, plus small stereo mosaics of Simar and "Hawk Ridge" to help measure the orientation of the veins and layers seen there. Mastcam will then make some observations of the sun and the distant crater rim to measure the dust in the atmosphere and MARDI will take an image of the ground underneath the rover. Later in the afternoon on sol 2090, Mastcam will take some images of MAHLI to make sure it isn't getting too dusty. APXS will then make two measurements: one on "Hunter Lake" and another on Caribou Lake.

On Sol 2091, we start first thing in the morning with Mastcam and Navcam atmospheric measurements of dust and searches for clouds. Later in the morning, we'll repeat some of the dust observations and Mastcam will take pictures of "Clappers," Hunter Lake, and Caribou Lake.

On Sol 2092 SAM will make a measurement of the atmospheric composition, and then Navcam will measure the dust in the atmosphere before we drive. The drive should go about 28 meters, heading back up the slope toward the top of Vera Rubin Ridge. After the drive, Mastcam will make another round of atmospheric dust measurements plus normal post-drive imaging, including a documentation image of the ground near the rover. MARDI will also take a documentation image.

Over the past week or so, Curiosity has experienced increasingly dusty conditions in Gale crater. Unlike her older cousin Opportunity on the other side of the planet, Curiosity is not solar powered and, therefore, doesn't suffer from the same power issues resulting from the darkening skies that Opportunity does. That allows Curiosity to play more of an active role in monitoring this dust storm from the ground and collecting important information to help scientists understand the evolution of such a weather phenomenon.

After an unexpectedly short drive on Sol 2086 due to some "slippery" ground conditions, we again had a very short drive in the Sol 2087 plan due to additional wheel slippage. In fact, Curiosity only recorded a drive of 17 millimeters, or about half an inch! Needless to say, the landscape today looks pretty similar to the landscape we saw yesterday...

The science team did a great job in taking advantage of this familiar landscape by planning several new measurements. ChemCam will use its LIBS capabilities to analyze targets named "Beaver Bay," "Moose Mountain," and "Breakwater," while Mastcam and Navcam will dedicate their efforts primarily towards documenting these ChemCam targets and making environmental observations. The plan is to then drive away from this location heading south back up the Vera Rubin Ridge. Following the drive, we will make some additional environmental measurements and acquire our standard post-drive observations in preparation for our next day of planning on Friday.

One really cool observation that will be made in today's science plan is a ChemCam LIBS observation of... well... THIN AIR! The idea is to target the ChemCam laser into the dusty martian air. By observing the amount of dispersion of the laser pulse, the team will be able to make some really cool observations and estimations of atmospheric dust abundances. This is equivalent to shining a laser pointer into the sky during a foggy day, or in a dusty classroom. It's a new tool available to Curiosity thanks to some really ingenious planning by the scientists and engineers, and today is the first day that we will make this observation, so stay tuned!

Like overcast days here on Earth, there are very few shadows currently observed in Gale crater when the sun is overhead. The red martian dust in the atmosphere is scattering nearly all observed sunlight, creating dim and diffuse conditions. Check out the differences between these Mastcam images of the Duluth drill hole on Sol 2078 and Sol 2084. It's clear that the amount of color contrast has decreased significantly as the air has become redder and sunlight is scattered more and more. We'll continue to monitor the amount of atmospheric scattering as the dust storm evolves over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

The dust storm that is challenging Opportunity closed in on Gale Crater over the weekend with a substantial increase in dust levels. The storm is no threat to nuclear-powered Curiosity and provides an amazing chance for new science. This is the first chance to take surface meteorological measurements from inside such a large dust storm. Two sols ago, this was the murky view from Navcam looking behind the rover and the amount of dust increased even more as of yestersol.

Today's plan features a wide range of observations to study the storm as part of our "dust storm campaign" including a Navcam dust devil survey, suprahorizon movie, and a zenith movie. We're also testing how quickly the amount of dust varies by doing a pair of Navcam line-of-sight dust measurements 15 minutes apart and two Mastcam "tau" measurements 1 hour and 30 minutes apart. Lastly, we scheduled a Mastcam "sky survey" to understand the properties of the dust particles themselves by way of how they scatter sunlight.

Aside from storm-related activities, the GEO working group targeted some remote-sensing observations of "Young Lake" and "Bass Lake" with ChemCam and Mastcam and then we'll drive away from this location.

Curiosity pulled away from the "Duluth" site yesterday, but given the blocky nature of the "Blunts Point" member and the sand in between those blocks, she did not get far. The drive stopped after only ~8 m, so the rover planners will give it another try today, slightly rejiggering the drive planned yesterday to move among the rocks on the slope back up to the top of the "Vera Rubin Ridge." The rover was left perched a bit awkwardly on a loose rock and some sand, so contact science was not possible before the drive. Instead, we shot "Ambridge" with ChemCam, a rock broken by the wheels on our drive down to Duluth. We previously acquired a Mastcam multispectral observation on Ambridge from our Duluth parking position; the new ChemCam data will complement the Mastcam data nicely. After the drive, ChemCam will shoot a target autonomously-selected by the AEGIS system. We dedicated a lot of time in the plan to imaging the sky to keep tabs on the ever-changing conditions wrought on us by the current dust storm. In the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon, Mastcam will acquire images to measure atmospheric opacity, looking for changes over just a few hours. Navcam will acquire an image to measure atmospheric opacity, and a movie looking for dust devils. Regular REMS and RAD, and both DAN passive and post-drive DAN active measurements round out the activities for the sol.

The last time Curiosity drove anywhere was 30 martian days ago. A lot has happened in these past 30 sols. The rover got its groove back and successfully carried out a feed extended percussion drill activity and delivered drilled rock powder samples to the analytical instruments internal to the rover. These two instruments are the CheMin X-Ray Diffractometer and the SAM mass spectrometer/gas chromatograph/tunable laser spectrometer suite, which have been without fresh samples to analyze for months. Of course over the time while the drill was inoperable, Curiosity still carried out some fantastic scientific investigations examining the nature of the Vera Rubin Ridge. With its newly resurrected drilling capabilities, Curiosity will do one last pass over the Vera Rubin Ridge units, now that the rest of the instrument suite onboard can have access to this and future drill samples.

After completing the last little bit of drill related activities designed to characterize the sampling site in detail, Curiosity will hit the road on the second sol of this three sol plan. However, the rover won't be driving very far due to the rough terrain, only around 13 meters. We'll carry out the usual suite of imaging at this site following the drive to make sure we can acquire the needed data to support contact science in the next plan. In the coming months, Curiosity will end its stint on the Vera Rubin Ridge and continue up Mt. Sharp.

The investigation of the Duluth drill hole is going well, and is expected to continue on Sol 2082. First, MAHLI will take a picture of the drill tailings to look for an imprint of the APXS contact sensor, then will acquire another rover "selfie." The major dust storm that caused the solar-powered Opportunity rover, on the other side of Mars, to shut down has somewhat darkened the skies over Gale Crater, but is not expected to seriously affect MSL operations. Still, there is great interest in the environmental effects of the dust storm, so the Sol 2082 plan includes more Navcam and Mastcam observations of atmospheric dust and Right Mastcam images intended to detect changes due to winds. ChemCam will also measure the elemental chemistry of the material in the sample dump pile, if the wind hasn't blown the pile away by then! Finally, MAHLI will take images of the calibration targets on the front of the rover to monitor camera performance.

[[LEGACY_IMAGE||GALLERY:9461||center||250||This set of images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a fierce dust storm is kicking up on Mars, with rovers on the surface indicated as icons.||These two views from NASA's Curiosity rover, acquired specifically to measure the amount of dust inside Gale Crater, show that dust has increased over three days from a major Martian dust storm.||GALLERY:9461||Curiosity's View of the June 2018 Dust Storm||{}]]