We'd like to keep driving toward the southwest ,

but can't see all of the terrain ahead from our current location. So
the Sol 1352 plan includes a short drive to give us a better view.
Before the rover moves, Mastcam will acquire a large stereo mosaic of
the "Breckhorn" ridge in front of the vehicle and
extend the left Mastcam mosaic of the "Fracture Town" area to the
west. ChemCam and Mastcam will also observe a rock called "Tsongoari."
After the drive, images are planned that will hopefully allow the
tactical team to find a safe path ahead. It was an
easy day for me as MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead today, with only an
end-of-drive MAHLI image and a MARDI twilight image.

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.

I'm SOWG Chair again today, and started browsing the latest
data from MSL early this morning. To my dismay, the post-drive images
that we expected to receive in time for planning today were not
available! It turned out that the data were received on Earth, but the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter operations team had some problems processing and transferring it to us. We waited as long as we could for the data needed
to plan contact science or mobility activities, then decided that we
should plan Sol 1350 without them because planning time is limited by
the early uplink window--we have to have the plan
ready to send to the rover by this evening. Fortunately, the images
needed to pick remote sensing targets were processed in time to point
ChemCam and Mastcam at the outcrop in front of the rover .

Planning targeted remote sensing is much easier than planning contact
science or mobility, so the Sol 1350 plan includes ChemCam/Mastcam
observations of "Oamites," "Aruab" and "Hosabes" as well as Mastcam
images of the Sun and distant crater rim and Navcam
searches for clouds and dust devils. Mastcam will also acquire
calibration data at various times of day (temperatures), and CheMin will
perform another analysis of the Lubango drill sample.

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.

Our drive on Sol 1346 was successful and brought us to a
location with a view of the rugged ridges of the area we’ve been calling "Fracture
Town". In fact, from our current location, we decided that those ridges may be
a bit too rough for comfort, so we are planning a slight change in course that
will take us a bit south of our original path. The new path should be smoother
and will also give us a better view of the contact between the Stimson and
Murray units.

But before we set off on this revised path, we have some
science to do at our current location! On Sol 1348, ChemCam has observations on
the targets "Meob", "Nomeib", and "Munutum". Mastcam will take documentation
images of these targets as well as the one observed by ChemCam using AEGIS
after our last drive. Mastcam will also observe the targets "Hudoab", "Witputz",
"Sandamap", plus a mosaic of Fracture Town. Once the remote sensing is done, we
will brush off the target Meob, taking MAHLI images before and after. MAHLI
will also take some images of the target Nomeib. That will be followed by a
quick APXS observation of Nomeib and an overnight observation on Meob.

On Sol 1349 we have some more targeted science! ChemCam will
observe targets "Annental" and "Nainais", and in addition to documentation
images of those targets, Mastcam will also do a multispectral observation of
Meob. Navcam has an atmospheric observation as well. After that, the rover will
drive and do standard post-drive imaging, plus a ChemCam AEGIS observation and
a MARDI image of the ground beneath us.

Even though that is only two sols, it will take us through
the weekend, since Saturday is a "soliday" which allows our times to synch back
up with Mars time. 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

We are coming up on the edge of Naukluft plateau (again!). The plan for Sol 1346 starts off with ChemCam observations of the targets "Etusis" and "Etiro", to continue measuring the variations in silica abundance around large fractures. Mastcam has a context image of these two targets, plus a mosaic looking ahead to an area we've been calling "Fracture Town". After that,
the rover will drive and do standard post-drive imaging, plus CheMin will do another analysis of the Okoruso sample.

On Sol 1347, the rover has a number of atmospheric observations, plus a ChemCam observation using the AEGIS software to target a nice patch of bedrock automatically. This is a new capability, and it's really nice to be able to get some data after we drive without having Earth in the loop!

by Ryan Anderson

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 drive planned last weekend completed successfully, moving MSL
less than 6 meters into position for contact science on the rocks broken
by the rover wheels .
Planning is restricted this week, so we are planning 2 sols' worth of
activities. The first sol (1344) includes a "touch and go" that
requires extra Rover Planner staffing, as both arm activities and a
drive are planned. It's great to be able to do so much in one plan, but
we had to cram a lot of stuff into Sol 1344 because the drive
has to be completed before the afternoon MRO communications relay to
allow another drive to be planne d on Wednesd ay.
So we had to decide which scientific observations were most important
and work to fit them into the plan. I helped select a target for a
ChemCam observation of "Impalila," one of the freshly-exposed rock
surfaces, and was glad to see that it made it into the plan. Mastcam
will acquire a multispectral observation of the broken rocks before
MAHLI takes pictures of "Stampriet," Impalila, "Narubis," and
"Swartmodder." As I mentioned in my previous blog, it's difficult to
get MAHLI close to these targets, so the camera will be placed no closer
than 5 cm from any of the targets; we can't get any closer than 25 cm
to Swartmodder. After MAHLI imaging is completed and the arm stowed,
the rover will drive toward the west, hopefully getting back to the Sol
1311 location, where the rover was before we decided to return to the
Lubango area.

Sol 1345 observations cannot be
targeted because they will be taken after the drive, so ChemCam and
Mastcam will perform routine sky measurements. That's it! 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 MSL team was originally planning a long drive this weekend, but there was enough interest in the fresh rock surfaces exposed near the
rover
that we decided to investigate them instead. Before we could decide
whether to "bump" to the rocks that were broken when the rover drove
over them, we had to make sure they could be well imaged by MAHLI.
Taking MAHLI images of nearly vertical faces is difficult, because the
turret at the end of the arm must be placed close to the ground. While
the Strategic Rover Planner worked to find ways to get MAHLI close to
the fresh surfaces, we planned pre-drive remote sensing and arm
activities: On Sol 1341, ChemCam will observe its calibration target, a
bedrock target named "Kobos 3," and the wall of the Okoruso drill
hole. Mastcam will then provide context for the ChemCam observations
and take stereo mosaics of "Naob" and other bedrock near the rover.
Later that afternoon, the DRT will be used to brush dust off a brighter
layer in the bedrock, with MAHLI images taken before and after the
brushing. We also planned close-up MAHLI images on a nearby bedrock
target dubbed "Rooilepel" and a lower-resolution MAHLI mosaic of the
area including Mariquita. All of this MAHLI work made for a very busy
day for me as MAHLI uplink lead!

APXS will measure
the chemistry of the brush spot overnight, before another busy sol
begins. The arm will be stowed to allow a Mastcam multispectral
observation of the brush spot before the rover bumps over to the broken
rocks. During the drive, DAN will actively measure the subsurface
hydrogen content by turning on its neutron generator. After acquiring
post-drive images, the rover will take a nap before CheMin performs
another overnight analysis of the Okoruso drill sample. Early on the
morning of Sol 1343, Navcam will search for clouds and dust devils, and
Mastcam will measure the optical thickness of dust in the atmosphere.
Later that sol, ChemCam will use the newly-validated AEGIS software to
acquire LIBS measurements of an autonomously-selected target. Of
course, we are hoping that the software continues to work well! 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.

Happy birthday, Curiosity! As of today, the rover has been
on the surface of Mars for two Mars years (almost four Earth years)! To
celebrate, we have a new press
release discussing our ongoing environmental measurements. These sorts of
systematic measurements become more useful the longer the rover is on the
surface to collect them, because we can compare how conditions change from year
to year.

Of course, we had other ways to celebrate too. Our French
colleagues at CNES (Centre national d'études spatiales) made a Mars-themed cake,
complete with a little rover exploring a delicious-looking cocoa-dusted martian
surface!

The mission doesn’t stop for us to eat cake though. Today we
planned Sols 1339 and 1340, continuing our drill campaign at the target "Okoruso".
On Sol 1339, MAHLI will observe a pile of drill tailings that was dumped
without being sieved. CheMin will complete the analysis from the Sol 1338 plan,
and APXS will make an overnight measurement of the dump pile. On Sol 1340, we
have a targeted science block with ChemCam passive and active observations of
the dump pile, and active observations of the targets "Kobos 2", "Stampriet",
and "Swartmodder". Mastcam will document those targets, and then Mastcam and
Navcam will make some atmospheric dust observations.

Here’s to many more martian birthdays for our rover! We
still have a long way to go to catch up with Opportunity’s >6.5 Mars years
of activity! 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

Today’s two-sol plan is going to be quite an arm workout for Curiosity. Over the weekend, Curiosity transferred and sieved the "Okoruso" drill sample, and analyzed it with CheMin. That means that today’s plan is focused on arm activities and imaging the drill location. The plan starts by dumping the pre-sieved drill sample. Then we’ll use Mastcam to image the dump pile and drill site. Next, we’ll target the drill hole with ChemCam, and we’ll also characterize a nearby bedrock target named "Ubib," followed by a MAHLI image of the dump pile. Overnight, it’s time for another arm workout – this time focused on MAHLI nighttime imaging of the drill hole and "Ubib" under different illumination conditions. On the first sol, that’s already several hours of arm activities, while holding a 66 pound (30 kg) turret at the end. After such an intense workout, what’s next? Time for a selfie. On the second sol Curiosity will take a MAHLI self portrait to document the drill site. But unlike most selfies, Curiosity’s selfie requires 60 different images, and will take nearly an hour to acquire. Finally, we’ll give the arm a break, and Curiosity will take several ChemCam and Mastcam observations of the drill tailings in the afternoon. Talk about a good workout (for a lot of great science).

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.

Meet the latest drill hole on Mars: "Okoruso," created on Sol 1332, seen in the above MAHLI image. Drilling activities went well on Sol 1332, so the weekend plan is focused on sieving the sample and dropping it off to CheMin for analysis. The plan starts with a short science block to acquire a ChemCam RMI image of the drill hole, and Mastcam stereo imaging of the pre-sieve dump location. Then the "Okoruso" drill sample will be transferred and sieved and delivered to CheMin for analysis overnight. The second sol includes ChemCam and Mastcam observations of the targets "Natas" and "Langental" to investigate variations in chemistry through the stratigraphy. The third sol has an early morning science block full of ChemCam, Navcam, and Mastcam observations to monitor the composition and opacity of the, atmosphere and search for clouds. In the afternoon we’ll use ChemCam to study the drill tailings and a freshly broken rock, followed by some repeated atmospheric observations.

By Lauren Edgar

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

Contact science activities on Sol 1330 went well, and we're ready to drill at "Okoruso." As seen in the above MAHLI image, this target looks like pretty typical Stimson bedrock, so it will be helpful to compare to the altered rock that we sampled at Lubango.

Today's two-sol plan is focused on drilling and MAHLI imaging on the first sol, with a lot of targeted remote sensing on the second sol. Activities on the second sol include a Mastcam multispectral observation of the drill hole, a large Mastcam mosaic to document the local geology, ChemCam observations of "Kobos" and "Strathmore" to investigate altered and unaltered rocks, and a long distance ChemCam RMI mosaic as part of a change detection experiment. We'll also acquire a Mastcam tau, ChemCam passive sky, and Navcam movie to monitor the atmosphere.

I'm impressed by how efficient we've become at drilling (we just wrapped up the last drill hole a couple of sols ago). Sometimes I need to pause and remind myself how unique and exciting this is. On what seems like just a typical Wednesday, we're drilling a hole on another planet! I'm grateful for the skilled operations team that makes this seem so easy, and I'm looking forward to seeing results from the newest drill hole on Mars.

By Lauren Edgar

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.