Last weekend, MSL successfully backed out of the sandy ripple, pausing to image her tracks . So more driving toward Mt. Sharp is planned for this week. Because of the phasing between Earth and Mars time, we are planning rapid-traverse sols, in which the entire uplink process is completed in only 7 hours. The Sol 675 data were not received until almost 13:00 Pacific time, as expected. Therefore, the uplink team had to work later than usual to plan a ChemCam and Mastcam observation of a ripple target named Radcliff, and -- more importantly -- another drive.


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 MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead today, planning Sols 673-675 to get MSL through the weekend. It turned out to be a busy day, as the Sol 672 did not complete nominally. A 101-meter drive was planned, but after traversing 82 meters the rover stopped because it determined that it was slipping too much. As the vehicle was crossing some sandy ripples , the wheels encountered soft sand and the rover automatically detected that progress was not being made at the expected rate, and correctly halted the drive. Coincidentally, the rover stopped right on the landing ellipse, a major mission milestone! The vehicle was designed to be able to traverse far enough to drive out of the region defined by the uncertainty in the landing location, and has now achieved that laudable goal.


We had been planning to acquire a full set of wheel images on Sol 673, but the current rover location is not suitable for this activity, so we decided to plan contact science instead. MAHLI images of a target Sourdough will be taken before placing the APXS on it and integrating overnight, in parallel with SAM scrubber cleaning. On Sol 674, the rover will drive out of the ripple, then turn around to get a better look at the location it is at now. The plan for the final sol (675) is dominated by cleaning of SAM's getter and trap.


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 we honored the contributions of women on the MSL team, with 75% of the operations roles filled by women ! I was on duty as the Geology and Mineralogy Science Theme Lead, and it was an exciting day of planning. Curiosity has just entered the Shoshone quad, and our top priority is driving. The Sol 672 plan includes ChemCam and Mastcam observations to characterize the local geology (with the appropriately named Mountain Girl target), a drive, and some post-drive imaging to prepare for targeting over the weekend. The plan also includes some routine environmental monitoring. Hopefully with the drive on Sol 672 we will reach the edge of the landing ellipse, which will be a major milestone. Thanks to all of the women (and men) who continue to explore Mars!


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 107 m drive on sol 670, we are now in Shoshone quad, and just 160 m from the edge of the landing ellipse! The sol 671 plan is a lot like the sol 670 plan, with a 3 hour drive as the main activity. These long drives often use visual odometry, where the rover takes pictures along the way to monitor how the drive is going and avoid obstacles. This is a great capability, allowing us to drive farther than we could otherwise, but a side effect is that it produces a lot of data. The result: less data available for
science observations.

All of which is to say that today was another data-constrained sol. There’s always a way to squeeze some science in though! Today’s plan has a color stereo image of a rock dubbed Lost Burro, a ChemCam passive observation of the sky, and a NavCam movie of the sky looking for clouds. ( Passive means that we don’t fire the laser, we just passively collect the spectrum of the target.) We also managed to squeeze a ChemCam measurement of our titanium calibration target and a MAHLI end-of-drive stowed image between the orbiter communication passes. And of course, we always do routine environmental monitoring with RAD, REMS, and DAN. Plus, after each drive we take clast survey images of the ground with Mastcam. Not bad for a data-constrained sol!


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 yesterday’s drive of around 39 m, we are just 24 m away from the boundary of the Shoshone quad! The landing site is divided up into squares 1.5 km on a side that we call quads . All of the targets in a given quad are assigned names from assigned names from various geologically interesting sites on Earth. Right now we’re in the Hanover quad, so recent targets have been named after locations in New Hampshire. Before that we were in the Kimberley quad, so target names were locations in the Kimberley region in Australia. Once we enter the Shoshone quad after today’s drive, target names will be based on places near Shoshone, CA near Death Valley.

Planning today was a bit challenging because we were limited on the amount of data we could collect, but after a full Mars year of practice the team is good at working with constraints. The main activity in the plan is a ~3 hour drive block, but before the drive we managed to fit in one ChemCam observation of a rock called Bloods Brook with a Mastcam documentation image to go with it, plus our usual post-
drive images.


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 new year everyone! As of around 3pm (Mars time) on sol 669, Curiosity will have been exploring Mars for a full martian year (687 Earth days). And what a year it’s been! We’ve driven a long way and done a lot of great science. We’ve measured the age of martian rocks, found evidence for flowing water, and even drilled into rocks formed in an ancient habitable lakebed .

Just as we wrap up our first Mars year of operations, we’re getting tantalizingly close to the edge of the landing ellipse. Over the weekend, our drive put us in a location with a limited view in front of us, so the plan today is to do a shorter drive to the top of a small ridge to get to a better vantage point. From there, we should be able to see much farther and plan some more long drives. Before we drive in today’s plan, ChemCam will zap two targets: a wind-blown ripple called Holt’s Ledge and a rock called Calef . (Any resemblance between this rock and our Keeper of the Maps, Fred Calef , is purely coincidental.)


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.

On Sol 665, Curiosity completed the longest drive of the mission so far (142.5 m!) through the Moosilauke Basin, and we’re busy planning 3 sols of activities that Curiosity will carry out over the weekend. On the first sol Curiosity will acquire ChemCam observations of a rock target and a soil target, and a 360-degree Mastcam mosaic to assess the local geology. The weekend plan also includes nighttime MAHLI imaging of the CheMin inlet, and full MAHLI wheel imaging. On the third sol Curiosity will complete another drive, and acquire some post-drive imaging to help with selecting targets on Monday (Sol 669). We’re making great progress in terms of driving, and we will soon be leaving the Hanover quad and entering the Shoshone quad!


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.

On Sol 665 Curiosity is planning to drive through Robert Frost Pass into Moosilauke Basin. There is an hour of time for targeted science on Sol 665, which includes several ChemCam and Mastcam observations to characterize the local geology. The plan also includes some systematic DAN and REMS measurements and data management activities. Driving has been the top priority lately, and we are approaching the southern edge of the landing ellipse. Thanks to some motivation from Robert Frost, we have been taking the roads less traveled by (or perhaps less covered in large angular blocks!), and that has made all the difference.


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 hoping to be able to resume blogging about MSL soon, but it will be difficult to report
very frequently because of continuing personal and professional commitments. Fortunately,
two other members of the MSL science team have volunteered to help with this blog: Ryan
Anderson and Lauren Edgar. Ryan is a USGS post-doctoral fellow and member of the ChemCam
science team, who previously blogged about planetary science for the American Geophysical
Union. Lauren recently accepted a USGS research scientist position, and will be moving from
Arizona State University to Flagstaff this fall. Both have been heavily involved in MSL mission
operations and data analysis since the rover landed in 2012, and I’m very pleased that they are
willing to spend some of their time contributing to this blog. You’ll be hearing from them soon.

The top priority for MSL continues to be the traverse toward the base of Aeolis Mons ( Mt.
Sharp ). Progress has been good since leaving The Kimberley, including a 129-meter drive
on Sol 662. We successfully planned a rapid traverse sol last week, in which scientific
observations are limited in favor of maximizing drive distance on days when only a few hours
are available for planning before commands must be sent to the rover. In this way, we can
make progress on days that would previously have been restricted due to the offset between
Earth and Mars time.

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.

Apologies for not blogging more frequently--my personal life has become more exciting and I'm going to have to take a break from this blog, at least for the next few months. So this will be my last blog for a while.

MSL is completing the intensive investigation of The Kimberley, having successfully drilled , acquired and dropped samples into CheMin and SAM. MAHLI has taken lots of excellent images of the drill hole, including some during the night with LEDs on, nicely showing the ChemCam LIBS spots . Extra sample material is stored in CHIMRA to allow future analyses if desired. The initial analysis of this new sample by Chemin is ongoing, requiring repeated overnight integration to build up high-quality data.