Tag Archives: High Dune

Seeing Mars in a grain of sand

Posted on October 24, 2018 by rburnham

[Ed. note: The following is a guide to two recent special issues of the Journal of Geophysical Research; both collect papers reporting on studies of the Bagnold Dunes in Gale Crater. The guide complements the MSL report posted earlier here.] … Continue reading →

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Curiosity: Gaining altitude

Posted on March 8, 2016 by rburnham

Sol 1274, March 7, 2016. Curiosity is parked in a shallow valley, pointing southwest and up onto Naukluft Plateau. An hour and half after taking the images showing the geologic contact ahead, the rover turned the Navcam to the left … Continue reading →

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Curiosity: Approaching Naukluft

Posted on February 24, 2016 by rburnham

Sol 1262, February 23, 2016.  Five Navcam frames, looking generally north-northwest, profile the edge of the Naukluft Plateau. The rover must traverse this feature or go around it to skirt the dunes that stand in the way of driving toward … Continue reading →

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Curiosity: Climbing onto Naukluft Plateau

Posted on February 23, 2016 by rburnham

Sol 1261, February 22, 2016. The view grows wider as Curiosity drives up onto Naukluft Plateau to get around High Dune (at right). Click to enlarge. Sol 1261 raw images (from all cameras), and Curiosity’s latest location.

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Curiosity update: Driving around the dune

Posted on February 20, 2016 by rburnham

Sol 1256-61, February 19, 2016, update from USGS scientist Ryan Anderson: Apologies for the lateness of this week’s update: The rover is fine, gradually working its way around the north end of a large dune. I’m just an absent-minded blogger … Continue reading →

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Curiosity: Mastcam scopes it out

Posted on February 19, 2016 by rburnham

Sol 1256, February 17, 2016. The wide-angle Mastcam snapped a multi-frame look-ahead at the terrain Curiosity will have to get over or go around. High Dune lies just out of the frame at left. Click to enlarge. Sol 1256 raw … Continue reading →

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Curiosity: Northwest passage

Posted on February 18, 2016 by rburnham

Sol 1256, February 17, 2016. Curiosity rolled northwest about 25 meters, driving on the rough surface of the Murray Formation. High Dune lies off to the left. Shortly before the drive, ChemCam’s Remote Micro-Imager looked back at Mt. Sharp, taking … Continue reading →

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Curiosity: Loomings

Posted on February 16, 2016 by rburnham

Sol 1255, February 16, 2016. Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons to be strictly correct) looms behind the rover, as it rolls across the Murray Formation’s rocks, northwest out of the cul-de-sac between Namib Dune (seen on the left) and High Dune … Continue reading →

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Curiosity: Rough rock

Posted on February 9, 2016 by rburnham

Sol 1248, February 9, 2016. With the rover having finished with Namib Dune, scientists are refocusing it on the rough-textured rock unit — the Murray Formation — on which the dunes are transient features. Namib Dune to the left, High … Continue reading →

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Curiosity: RMI does a ‘Take 2′ on distant crater

Posted on February 5, 2016 by rburnham

Sol 1244, February 5, 2016. The ChemCam’s Remote Micro-Imager has reshot (above) the interior of a distant impact crater lying at the foot of Gale Crater’s interior wall, west- southwest of Curiosity’s current location. The arrow in the image at … Continue reading →

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