The weekend drive was successful, placing us nicely on an overlook of the "Meeteetse" area. The focus for Sol 1146 is to get some good color stereo images of the whole area, including "Big Sky," "Greenhorn," and "Meeteetse". Mastcam will take a 16x3 mosaic of the Meeteetse area, plus a 12x1 right-eye mosaic of some nearby resistant ridges. It will also measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere by looking at the sun, and take a documentation image of the target "Belle Fourche" after ChemCam analyzes it. ChemCam also has a "passive sky" observation, where we use the ChemCam spectrometers to stare at the sky and measure the abundance of gases in the atmosphere. On Sol 1147, the main activity is to deliver some of the material sampled at the "Greenhorn" drill hole to the SAM instrument, and then run a SAM evolved gas analysis and tunable laser spectrometer (EGA/TLS) experiment on the sample. This involves heating the sample gradually and measuring the gases that are produced as it breaks down. 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.

After a successful investigation focused on alteration zones around fractures, it’s time to move on. We’re still chewing on data from the "Greenhorn" and "Big Sky" drill samples, but we can wrap up a few last observations in this area and drive away in today’s 3-sol plan.

On the first sol, we’ll acquire MAHLI images on the pre-sieve dump pile and the nearby target "Vandalia," with overnight APXS on the dump pile. On the second sol, we’ll take a few last Mastcam observations as part of a change detection experiment, and then drive a short distance away. As we turn and drive away, we’ll acquire a DAN active observation over the "Greenhorn" drill hole. The goal of the drive is to get to a good overlook to assess the stratigraphy of the "Meeteetse" area. After the drive we’ll acquire some post-drive imaging to be used for context and future targeting. After several weeks at "Big Sky" and "Greenhorn", it feels good to be getting back on the road (and by ‘road’ I mean completely uncharted territory on another planet!). By Lauren Edgar --Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of 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.

The Sol 1141 activities completed as expected, and the rover's batteries
are charged up enough to allow both daytime and nighttime activities in
today's plan. First, the unsieved part of the Greenhorn drill sample
will be dumped onto the
ground and Mastcam and MAHLI will take pictures of the resulting pile.
Then the left Mastcam will acquire a 9x2 mosaic and ChemCam and Mastcam will observe the target "Maywood" to better characterize the variations in silica content near the
rover. After dusk, MAHLI will use its LEDs to take pictures of the
walls and bottom of the drill hole . MAHLI will also take close-up images of the drill tailings and of
CheMin's inlet before the APXS is placed over the drill tailings 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.

There was a problem processing the latest data from MSL at the Deep
Space Network station that received it, but the data are now available
and confirm that the Sol 1140 activities completed successfully. As
expected, the batteries need to be recharged after the SAM methane
experiment, so Sol 1141 activities are limited to a few remote sensing
activities. ChemCam and Mastcam will observe the Greenhorn drill
tailings and another bedrock target, called "Fort Conrad." Besides some
recurring observations, that's it for the Sol 1141 plan! The rover's
batteries should be nearly fully charged for Sol 1142 activities.



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 ChemCam RMI images of the drill hole planned yesterday were successfully acquired and received, and were used today to plan 2 parallel LIBS rasters down the hole. The additional LIBS raster should be useful in measuring variations in
chemistry among individual sand grains and in detecting thin veins. ChemCam and Mastcam will also observe a tar get dubb ed
"Marshall" to see whether silica enrichment extends along other
fractures near the rover. Finally the SAM methane experiment that was
deferred due to an uplink problem last week is scheduled overnight
between Sols 1140 and 1141. This experiment requires a significant
amount of power, which will limit the activities that can be planned
tomorrow.



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.

Over the weekend Curiosity drilled another hole on Mars at the "Greenhorn" target. Everything went smoothly and we have another beautiful sample to analyze!

Today’s plan is focused on transferring the sample to CheMin, followed by CheMin analysis of the drill sample. I was on duty as GSTL today, and we also planned several ChemCam and Mastcam observations of the drill hole and surrounding rocks. First we’ll acquire a ChemCam passive observation of the drill tailings, and take a number of RMI images of the drill hole to help with ChemCam targeting of the drill hole tomorrow. Then we’ll acquire ChemCam LIBS on the targets "Gypsy," "Tumbleweed," and "Wrangle" to assess the variability of silica associated with these fracture zones. We’ll also take a small Mastcam mosaic to document the ChemCam targets and the local topography, and a Mastcam and Navcam photometry experiment to characterize differences in lighting over the same region at different times of day. In the afternoon, the "Greenhorn" drill sample will be transferred, sieved, and dropped off to CheMin, and the sample will be analyzed by CheMin overnight. It will be interesting to see how this sample compares to the "Big Sky" target!

By Lauren Edgar

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

Unfortunately the Sol 1135 bundles were not uplinked due to a DSN issue, so the activities that we planned yesterday never made it onboard. However, that meant that Curiosity spent the day resting and recharging in time for a lot of great science this weekend.

Today’s 3-sol plan will recover most of the activities that were planned for Sol 1135, in addition to the main activity of a full drill hole on the "Greenhorn" target. On the first sol, Curiosity will acquire several ChemCam and Mastcam observations on the targets "Nisku," "Skull Creek," "Hawk Creek," and "Opeche," to investigate the variability in silica associated with these fracture zones. We’ll also take several Mastcam images to look for changes in fine-grained deposits to evaluate local winds. Overnight, we’ll use MAHLI to image the CheMin inlet in preparation for drilling activities. On the second sol, we’ll go for the full drill hole on "Greenhorn," followed by MAHLI imaging of the drill hole. The third sol consists of several environmental monitoring activities to assess the composition and opacity of the atmosphere. We’ll also squeeze in some Mastcam observations of the "Big Sky" dump pile and drill tailings using all of the camera filters. The only activity that we won’t have time for is the SAM atmospheric methane detection, but we’re hoping to get that sometime next week. I’ll be on duty again on Monday, so I’m looking forward to seeing the
results from the latest drill hole!

By Lauren Edgar

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

The Sol 1134 mini-start hole on "Pilgrim" went well, as seen in the above MAHLI image . Side note: if that doesn’t look like a hole to you, try rotating the image (the hole is illuminated from the lower left, but the human eye generally prefers to see sunlight coming from the upper half of the image).

Due to power restrictions, we’re waiting until the weekend plan to go for the full drill hole, but that means that today there’s time for a SAM atmospheric observation and a targeted science block. The goal of the SAM activity is to look for methane, one Mars year after the previous high detections. So we’ll let SAM take a big whiff to see if we can detect anything. I was on duty as GSTL today, and we filled the science block with several ChemCam and Mastcam observations. We’re trying to look for variations in silica associated with the fracture zone that we’re drilling. We also planned several Mastcam images to look for changes in fine-grained deposits to evaluate local winds. Despite our power restrictions, planning has been going very smoothly today, and we’re looking forward to more time for science this weekend!

By Lauren Edgar

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

Curiosity is currently investigating an alteration zone around a fracture, and the plan today is focused on what we call a "mini-start hole." Before we do a full drill hole, we do a small test hole to make sure its safe. The target "Pilgrim" was selected for drilling, located in the middle of this Mastcam image . Today's plan also includes MAHLI imaging of "Pilgrim," both before and after drilling. Then we'll place APXS over the target for analysis overnight. The plan also includes DAN, RAD and REMS measurements. Data volume and power were issues today, but the team put together a very full plan despite these limitations. I'll be on duty as GSTL tomorrow, and it looks like we should have a science block that will allow us to characterize this target with both Mastcam and ChemCam as well.

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.

Sol 1133 activities are dominated by dumping the "Big Sky" sample and "thwacking" CHIMRA (the Collection and Handling for in-Situ Martian Rock Analysis) to clean out any remnants of the sample. We have to do this in preparation for the next drill sample, which will likely be the "Greenhorn" target in tomorrow’s plan. In addition to these arm activities, today’s plan includes several ChemCam and Mastcam observations of "Greenhorn" and "Gallatin Pass" to assess chemical variations across a fracture.

And while Curiosity has been keeping busy on Mars, the science team has been working away here on Earth. Check out the most recent selfie at "Big Sky" that was just released as well as some exciting results that were just published in Science !

By Lauren Edgar

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