Sol 1814, September 12, 2017, update by MSL scientist Rachel Kronyak: As we’ve seen from the past several weeks and months of imaging, Curiosity’s approach to and ascent of the Vera Rubin Ridge (VRR) has provided us with stunning views of the Mount Sharp terrain. Our parking spot after this weekend’s drive was no exception, seen in the Navcam image above. In today’s plan we are continuing our trek up the lower strata of the VRR and have no shortage of multi-colored bedrock targets to image and analyze.
Today we planned two sols. On Sol 1814, we planned a touch-and-go (APXS analysis + full suite of MAHLI images) on the dark bedrock target “Pumpkin Nob.” Additional science block activities include a corresponding ChemCam raster and Mastcam image of Pumpkin Nob. We’ll also perform a multispectral Mastcam observation on “Weymouth Point,” a region of VRR terrain just ahead of Curiosity. Following a… [More at link]