Tag Archives: Vera Rubin Ridge

Curiosity report, Sols 2257-2312, by Emily Lakdawalla, The Planetary Society

Two thousand, three hundred and two Martian days. That is how long it took from landing day for Curiosity to reach the “clay-bearing unit.” The clay-bearing unit is a region at the base of Mount Sharp where Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: Targeting small bedrock patches, pebbles, and soil

Sols 2311-12, February 4, 2019, update by MSL scientist Roger Wiens: The accompanying image shows the target “Brent” in the lower right corner; it was analyzed with ChemCam and APXS, and imaged with MAHLI over the weekend. It is a … Continue reading

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Curiosity: Looking ahead, and farther ahead

Sol 2306, January 31, 2019. Curiosity’s Navcam took a composite showing the rolling surface of the clay-bearing unit directly before the rover (above), while the Remote Micro-Imager looked off into the distance to profile a hill (below).  Click either image … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: In the clay unit

Sols 2304-05, January 29, 2019, update by MSL scientist Christopher Edwards: Today’s plan found Curiosity solidly in new territory and the view couldn’t be more different than the patchy bedrock of the Vera Rubin Ridge. The workspace for the next … Continue reading

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Curiosity: Farewell to Vera Rubin Ridge

NASA’s Curiosity rover has taken its last selfie on Vera Rubin Ridge and descended toward a clay region of Mount Sharp. The twisting ridge on Mars has been the rover’s home for more than a year, providing scientists with new … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: Looking forward to the clay-bearing unit

Sols 2301-03, January 28, 2019, update by MSL scientist Ryan Anderson: This weekend’s plan started off on Sol 2301 with some Mastcam atmospheric observations, followed by ChemCam analysis of “Loch Ness” and “Loch Skeen,” examples of brown and gray bedrock. … Continue reading

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Curiosity: Charting a path forward

Sol 2302, January 27, 2019. Curiosity’s Navcam shot a new composite of the scenery ahead, after a sequence of drives totaling a little over 27 meters (88 feet). Click the image to enlarge it. Sol 2302 raw images (from all … Continue reading

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Curiosity: Clay-bearing viewpoint

Sol 2299, January 24, 2019. Using its wide-angle (34mm) camera, Curiosity’s Mastcam shot a five-frame view overlooking the reverse slope of Vera Rubin Ridge (foreground and top left). Mission scientists and engineers are planning to drive Curiosity down off the … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: Beam me up Scotty!

Sol 2300, January 24, 2019, update by MSL scientist Lucy Thompson: Curiosity is on the brink of descending down off the Vera Rubin Ridge (VRR) onto the clay-bearing unit. We are hoping to ‘beam up’ lots of interesting new data … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: Melrose Place

Sol 2299, January 23, 2019, update by MSL scientist Scott Guzewich: Curiosity is continuing the first phase of its journey to the “clay-bearing unit,” the low elevation portion in the middle distance of this Navcam image with a series of … Continue reading

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