Tag Archives: Namib Dune

Curiosity: ChemCam takes a long shot

Sol 1222, January 13, 2016. The rover’s ChemCam isn’t limited to closeups of rocks and targets in Curiosity’s nearby surroundings. Using its Remote Micro-Imager, the camera can also focus at infinity. Here it shot a four-frame portrait of the interior … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: ‘Scooping sand for SAM’

Sol 1223-24, January 13, 2016, update from USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: The Sol 1221 drive went well, including a wheel scuff in the dark sand dune, and the rover is in a good position for contact science.  The Sol 1223-1224 … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: ‘Back on track’

Sol 1221-22, January 11, 2016, update from USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: MSL has recovered from the motor controller anomaly, so tactical operations are back on track, with a drive to the dune sampling area planned for Sol 1221.  I helped … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: ‘Change in plans’

Sol 1218-20, January 8, 2016, update from USGS scientist Lauren Edgar: We came in this morning curious to see how the Sol 1217 bump and scuff went, but unfortunately there was an anomaly that prevented any use of motors during … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: ‘Where to sample?’

Sol 1217, January 7, 2016, update from USGS scientist Lauren Edgar: On Sol 1216 Curiosity drove 43 m toward the Namib Dune sampling location.  That meant that today we had to decide on our final sampling spot, and there were … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: ‘Looking forward to sampling and scuffing’

Sol 1216, January 6, 2016, update from USGS scientist Lauren Edgar: On Sol 1215, Curiosity drove 67 m toward the Namib Dune sampling location.  The desired location is visible in the middle of the above Navcam image. Today’s plan includes … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: ‘Driving to a sampling location’

Sol 1215, January 4, 2016, update from USGS scientist Lauren Edgar: After wrapping up our holiday investigation on the lee side of Namib Dune, it’s time to move to a new location along the dune to sample the chemistry and … Continue reading

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Curiosity: Time for a wheel-check

Sol 1214, January 5, 2016. The MAHLI performs its periodic pit-stop duty, surveying the rover’s wheels. (Namib Dune forms the background.) Both images enlarge when clicked. Sol 1214 raw images (from all cameras), and Curiosity’s latest location.

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Curiosity update: ‘Catching up after the holidays’

Sol 1214, January 4, 2016, update from USGS scientist Lauren Edgar: While the science team took a break from operations over the holidays, we sent up plenty of commands to keep Curiosity busy over Sols 1205-1213.  Curiosity acquired a number … Continue reading

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Why did the rover drive around the dune? To get to the other side, of course

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover, partway through the first up-close study ever conducted of extraterrestrial sand dunes, is providing dramatic views of a dune’s steep face, where cascading sand has sculpted very different textures than the wavy ripples visible on the … Continue reading

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