Wednesday’s planned drive up "Bloodstone Hill" ended a little earlier than we’d anticipated because the slopes became too steep and slippery for our intrepid rover to ascend. As we were nearing the end of the planned drive, software onboard Curiosity detected the rover was making very little forward progress, so the computer told Curiosity to stop early and await further instruction from the team back on Earth.

All of this made for a fun and interesting day for me because I was staffed as “surface properties scientist.” In this role, I use my geologist background to provide input about the terrain properties to the rover drivers as we plan Curiosity’s drives. Although the rover’s maximum tilt was only 27˚ when the software ended Wednesday’s planned drive (our record is ~31˚), the rover drivers and I decided we probably wouldn’t make it much higher up Bloodstone Hill given the properties of the terrain and geometry of the potential paths forward. Instead, we decided our best option would be to do contact science near our current location. We’ll still need to adjust ourselves a bit in today’s plan to confirm the rover is stable enough for us to unstow the arm.

Despite not making it to the exact spot we’d hoped, the views today are still specular (The horizon isn’t tilted, we are!). We’ll spend the first sol of the weekend plan collecting remote information before repositioning to set us up for Monday. Today reminded me there is never a dull day of operating a rover on Mars!

Following our drive in Monday’s plan, we’re one step closer to "Bloodstone Hill!" The drive in today’s plan should put us in a perfect spot to conduct contact science with our arm instruments (MAHLI, DRT, and APXS) in the upcoming weekend plan.

Today we planned a suite of remote sensing observations to document our surroundings as we approach Bloodstone Hill. On the first sol of our plan, we filled our science block with three ChemCam targets: two nodular-rich bedrock targets (“Dry Harbour” and “Embra”) and bedrock target “Ormiston.” Following ChemCam, we’ll document Dry Harbour and Ormiston with a single Mastcam documentation image since the targets are in close proximity to one another. We’ll document the Embra target as part of a larger mosaic to investigate a nearby trough feature. We also planned for a large Mastcam stereo mosaic to capture our view of Bloodstone Hill from our current parking spot. Following our science block, Curiosity will drive the last leg to Bloodstone Hill and collect post-drive images to document our new surroundings.

On the second sol of our plan, we’ll use ChemCam to collect data on three targets at our new location. ChemCam is able to do this using its Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science (AEGIS) mode. The AEGIS software allows the rover to automatically identify targets near the rover and collect geochemical data. Having these three additional ChemCam targets will bolster our geochemical dataset at Bloodstone Hill.

Today was an extra exciting day of Mars planning for me – it was my first shift serving as the Geology Science Theme Group Lead (Geo-STL). As the Geo-STL, I worked closely with the science and instrument teams and together we assembled our list of science observations for today’s plan. Every day on Mars is a team effort!

A few months ago, Curiosity drove up on top of the "Greenheugh pediment" to investigate the capping unit that is visible on top. After Curiosity drove off the pediment, the rover has been driving along the base of the pediment scarp and is about to reach the eastern edge. An interesting feature that is located at the eastern edge of the pediment is called "Bloodstone Hill" (visible in the image above). This is a light-toned mound that the team has been observing in long distance images for the entire mission. Bloodstone Hill was even visible from Curiosity's landing site! This light-toned mound is located right at the edge of the pediment, although it does not appear to have the pediment capping unit on top. Bloodstone Hill caught the team's attention because it is so bright, which raises many questions. Is it bright because it is covered in dust? Because it has a different mineralogy? A different alteration history? Now Curiosity is approaching Bloodstone Hill, and we can start answering some of these questions.

In tosol’s plan the main event is a long drive that will place Curiosity close to the base of Bloodstone Hill. Another important piece of the plan is the Mastcam multispectral mosaic that will be taken of Bloodstone Hill. As we approach this feature, the team is gathering more data that will help us plan our investigation at this location. Multispectral observations can help identify variations in color and/or mineralogy across the outcrop. If the multispectral mosaic reveals any interesting variations, we can target those areas once we arrive at Bloodstone Hill.

Additionally, there are several other Mastcam observations in the plan that will document fractures or troughs between bedrock patches as well as the contact between the pediment capping unit and the strata below. ChemCam will also target “Earlish” to investigate the chemistry of nodule-rich bedrock in this area. Finally, a MARDI image will be taken after the drive to document the terrain underneath the rover.

Akin to a road trip where you want to make good time but do not want to miss the notable sights along the way, Curiosity is fitting in scientific sightseeing along her drive east toward sulfate-bearing horizons identified in Mt. Sharp long before Curiosity started exploring Gale crater in 2012. The stop-worthy attraction on Sol 2790 was an apparent landslide, which littered the slopes up to the "Greenheugh pediment" with a variety of dark gray blocks from that bedrock layer. To learn more about how the pediment, and the bedrock it once covered, eroded through time, the team planned two Mastcam mosaics from the the base of the landslide. One large mosaic will cover the landslide itself, dubbed “Munlochy,” and the second, smaller mosaic will capture “Cowie Harbour,” layered outcrops on lower flanks of a butte that was once connected to the Greenheugh pediment. Mastcam will also image a collection of large blocks (“Yamspath Law”) sitting among pebble-lined troughs dividing the bedrock of this part of the Glen Torridon region, further contributing to the investigation of how the terrain we are driving on evolved to the state we find it today. With all of the Mastcam imaging, there was only time for one ChemCam raster on the target “Muness,” one of the dark gray blocks brought downhill by the landslide. Fortunately, we knew we got additional chemistry data from the bedrock covered by the landslide in the two post-drive automated ChemCam rasters from the previous plan.

We will get two more such automated ChemCam rasters after our next drive, which will take us slightly north around a sand patch that stands in our way of direct progress east. Before and after the drive, we will acquire numerous images and movies of the skies above us to monitor the amount of dust in the atmosphere and look for clouds and dust devils.

Curiosity is making good progress on the way to “Bloodstone Hill,” an interesting bright outcrop visible on the left side of the above Navcam image. The plan is to drive around the large sand patch and then make our way up to the hill, hopefully sometime next weekend. But before we get to “Bloodstone Hill,” there’s a lot of great science to be done this weekend! While most of us see weekends as a time to take it easy, the opposite is true for Curiosity. Weekends provide the opportunity to do full contact science, including use of the DRT, MAHLI, and APXS, in addition to a drive and lots of science!

I was the SOWG Chair today, and the team put together a very full plan. On the first sol, we planned a number of ChemCam targets to assess the chemistry of the bedrock in our workspace, including typical bedrock, nodules, veins, and exposed stratigraphy. The first sol also includes associated Mastcam documentation of the Chemcam targets, a Mastcam sky column observation to monitor the Mastcam instrument optical response, and a large Mastcam mosaic of “Bloodstone Hill.” Then Curiosity will use the DRT to clear off a fresh surface at the target “Hedgeley Moor,” followed by MAHLI imaging to characterize sedimentary structures and the surface texture of this target, and then use APXS overnight to investigate its chemistry.

The second sol kicks off with systematic MAHLI wheel imaging, followed by a short science block. This science block includes multispectral imaging of the DRT target “Hedgeley Moor,” Mastcam deck monitoring, and a Mastcam stereo mosaic of “Sandbank” to document nearby sand troughs.
Then Curiosity will drive to the northeast, and take post drive imaging to prepare for targeting and driving on Monday.

The third sol includes a number of environmental monitoring activities including Navcam movies to search for dust devils, imaging to monitor the amount of dust in the atmosphere, a ChemCam passive sky survey to assess water vapor and dust in the atmosphere, and an autonomously selected AEGIS target. There is also an afternoon Mastcam sky survey and a morning science block early on sol 2795 to further monitor atmospheric activity.

Whether looking up at the sky or down at the rocks, there’s a lot to be done by Curiosity this weekend!

Our discussions during the start of planning this morning centred around: 1) Where to drive in order to maximize the view out of the front window to make planning the next drive easier, as well as trying to place Curiosity in a position where we will be able to image an interesting feature that from orbit, appears as though it may be a landslide that originated from the edge of the pediment cliff to the north; and 2) Which of the features in our immediate workspace to analyze with ChemCam? Bedrock, diagenetic features, pebbles or veins? The rover planner engineers managed to plan a drive that satisfied both mobility goals, and after much deliberation, the science team decided to use ChemCam to investigate the chemistry of the bedrock and a pebble in the workspace, all in one observation (“Outer_Golden_Pot”). The LIBS raster will transition from bedrock onto a dark grey pebble.

I had noticed some blocks with interesting dark-coloured coatings in our drive direction imaging last Friday, and once such block ended up just off to the right of the rover today. Although we will not get chemistry on this block (“Dunkeld”), Mastcam will image the block, and lighter-coloured veins and fractured rock around it to get a higher-resolution look. Mastcam will also capture the ChemCam target in more detail, as well as mosaics of the possible landslide feature (“Munlochy”), the pediment cliff off to the right (north) of the rover, and a 15 x 8 frame, 360° mosaic.

The environmental science group planned a suite of activities including three large Navcam dust devil surveys, a Navcam dust devil movie, and Navcam deck monitoring. The standard REMS, DAN passive and RAD activities are also included. A SAM Electrical Baseline Test (EBT) designed to monitor SAM’s electrical functions will execute during the overnight of the first sol of this plan.

As the APXS Payload Uplink/Downlink Lead today, it was a quiet planning day for me, with no contact science. However, I did analyze the data downlinked from our weekend observations looking at the typical bedrock chemistry (“Heather Island”) and helped identify the “Dunkeld” target. It is always a thrill to see the new view after a drive, and today did not disappoint.

Curiosity is continuing her trek towards the sulfate-bearing unit while studying the local bedrock and environment along the way. The previous drive placed Curiosity in front of several bedrock exposures (see above image), which will be analyzed extensively before the rover continues driving in this weekend’s three-sol plan.

The star of the plan is the “Heather Island” target (the slab at the very left of the above image), which will be studied by four(!) of the rover’s instruments. First, ChemCam will take an extended 20-point raster observation across Heather Island. Having more ChemCam data points on this target will enable better comparison with the high-resolution MAHLI imaging that comes next, and will help us better understand small-scale chemical variations in the bedrock. The rover will then use the Dust Removal Tool (DRT) to clear dust from Heather Island’s surface so that APXS can better measure the composition of the underlying bedrock. Finally, Mastcam will take a multispectral observation over the same spot. This is really a great opportunity to leverage the unique capabilities of multiple instruments to characterize different aspects of the same target.

The rest of the plan is also packed with other observations. ChemCam will observe “Glame,” a nodular target that will add to our characterization of nodular features in this region. Mastcam will also keep busy with four mosaics focused on the pediment and local landscape, and a suite of atmospheric monitoring activities and dust devil observations are also included throughout the plan. Curiosity will then drive and take two post-drive ChemCam observations using the AEGIS mode, which will autonomously select bedrock targets at our next stop so that we can get a head start on characterizing the next location.

After a drive of longer than 50 meters, Curiosity parked in front of an interesting patch of bedrock and sand well within the previously identified clay-bearing unit. Scattered within the sediment was a plethora of small pebbles or nodules that seem to be eroding out of the local bedrock. Upon this observation, the team was particularly excited about studying these pebbles or nodules and their host bedrock as a means of understanding any chemical differences and the role of physical erosion in the liberation of these materials. Our science plan today involved two ChemCam LIBS chemical analyses of this nodular/pebbly bedrock material, in addition to a large Mastcam mosaic of the nearby pediment and cliff face from this unique vantage point and before we drive away. After another planned drive, we have a series of additional Mastcam mosaics planned to continue improving our understanding of this landscape as we march further uphill in our climb of Mount Sharp.

Today’s plan marks the start of our more than 1.5 km traverse to the next major unit of Mt. Sharp, the “sulfate-bearing” unit. During this traverse the focus will be on driving as far as we can each sol, but we’ll still be doing plenty of science along the way.

Sol 2781 begins with ChemCam observations of smooth bedrock at the target “Beaconsfield” and nodular bedrock at the target “Pict.” Mastcam will then document the ChemCam targets and collect a stereo mosaic of some nearby polygonal patterns. Navcam will then study atmospheric dust and take a mosaic of the rover deck.

After that the rover will drive as far as possible, first using our usual driving mode and then using the rover’s “autonav” capability. Autonav uses the onboard computer to map the terrain so the rover can carefully continue driving farther than our current images can see well. It has been a while since we used autonav, but we’re using all the tools at our disposal to make progress toward the sulfate unit. Navcam will take some images during and after the drive. After the drive Mastcam will make some atmospheric observations and take an image of the ground to monitor soils and rocks as we drive. MARDI will also document the ground beneath the rover.

On Sol 2782, Navcam will observe the rover deck again, as well as watch for dust devils, and ChemCam will make an autonomously targeted observation. Finally, CheMin will do an overnight observation of an empty cell (this gives a baseline to compare with when analyzing samples later on).

This week the science team decided not to drill a second hole next to the "Glasgow" target, and so we’re able to hit the road again this weekend. We’re heading east, past a large sand sheet, and toward the sulfate unit farther up the slopes of Mt. Sharp that Curiosity will be exploring in the future. The sulfate unit is the last unexplored region that originally led to Gale Crater’s selection as the landing site for Curiosity.

Before driving this Sunday, Curiosity is wrapping up activities at Glasgow with a very full science plan and the opportunity to complete several activities that are rather infrequent. A series of observations with Mastcam and Navcam will monitor sand and dust motion on the surface. We call these “change detection” images and they help inform us about how Mars’ many sand dunes form and move and how the surface has been eroded over billions of years of history. APXS will monitor the atmosphere. Usually, APXS is placed down on the surface for contact science on a rock target, but the instrument is also sensitive to argon, a trace gas in both Earth’s and Mars’ atmospheres. Because of Mars’ climate, where a large amount of the atmosphere freezes onto the polar caps in winter, the relative amount of argon in the atmosphere changes, and APXS can monitor that cycle. Lastly, we planned a ChemCam observation (a “passive sky”) where we use ChemCam, without the laser, to look at the atmosphere and monitor how gases like water vapor and dust amounts change seasonally. We’re in the early portion of the dusty season on Mars, so we’re keeping a close eye on the sky to watch for storms.