Tag Archives: Curiosity

Curiosity update: ‘Tis the season to be dusty

Posted on May 30, 2018 by rburnham

Sol 2067, May 30, 2018, update by MSL scientist Claire Newman: The previous plan included some tests of the sample delivery system, including delivery of a single portion to the closed cover of the SAM inlet. The imaging showed a … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Curiosity update: Sample drop-off testing

Posted on May 26, 2018 by rburnham

Sols 2063-66, May 25, 2018, update by MSL scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Some of the Duluth drill sample was dropped into CheMin on Sol 2061, but not enough for a proper mineralogical analysis. So the top priority for today’s plan is … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

NASA video Mars report

Posted on May 25, 2018 by rburnham

What’s the latest news from Mars? NASA’s InSight lander and MarCO CubeSats are on their way to the Red Planet, a tiny helicopter will hitch a ride with the Mars 2020 rover mission, and Curiosity’s drill is back in business! … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Curiosity update: Time to feed CheMin

Posted on May 24, 2018 by rburnham

Sols 2061-62, May 23, 2018, update by MSL scientist Lauren Edgar: After successfully drilling the “Duluth” target on Sol 2057 (as seen in the above Mastcam image), the science team is eager to find out what it’s made of. As … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Curiosity starts drilling again

Posted on May 24, 2018 by rburnham

Engineers working with NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover have been hard at work testing a new way for the rover to drill rocks and extract powder from them. This past weekend, that effort produced the first drilled sample on Mars in … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Curiosity update: Characterizing a successful drill!

Posted on May 23, 2018 by rburnham

Sols 2059-60, May 23, 2018, update by MSL scientist Mark Salvatore: This past weekend, Curiosity successfully drilled into the “Duluth” rock target, generating a beautiful pile of drill tailings! This is a very exciting time for us on the rover … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Curiosity update: Poised

Posted on May 21, 2018 by rburnham

Sols 2056-58, May 21, 2018, update by MSL scientist Michelle Minitti: This weekend, Curiosity will attempt to sink the drill into the complexly-layered “Duluth” block. Before that, she will gather more data from the “Blunts Point” member rocks in front … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Curiosity update: Drill site perspectives from a Duluth native

Posted on May 18, 2018 by rburnham

Sol 2055, May 18, 2018, update by MSL scientist Roger Wiens: I was excited to learn earlier this week that my native city was chosen as the name of the latest drill site on Mars! The name was selected by … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Restoring Curiosity’s percussion drilling ability

Posted on May 17, 2018 by rburnham

NASA’s Curiosity rover could soon be drilling rocks on Mars again. Engineers have been working for the past year to restore the rover’s full drilling capabilities, which were hampered in 2016 due to a mechanical problem. Later this weekend, they’ll … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

Curiosity update: Duluth at our feet… er, wheels

Posted on May 17, 2018 by rburnham

Sol 2054, May 16, 2018, update by MSL scientist Abigail Fraeman: Our sol 2054 plan was limited by a small morning downlink. Occasionally, the flight paths of the Mars orbiters over Gale Crater don’t have favorable geometries for relays with Curiosity, … Continue reading →

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off