Tag Archives: Murray Formation

Curiosity: Operating normally after a reset

NASA’s Curiosity rover is busy making new discoveries on Mars. The rover has been climbing Mount Sharp since 2014 and recently reached a clay region that may offer new clues about the ancient Martian environment’s potential to support life. Curiosity … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: Onwards to Midland Valley

Sols 2320-23, February 14, 2019, update by MSL scientist Catherine O’Connell: Today was a very busy planning day for the Curiosity operations team. We planned a 3-sol plan, with contact science, imaging, environmental monitoring and a drive. Our weekend plan … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: Touring Glen Torridon

Sols 2318-19, February 11, 2019, update by MSL scientist Lucy Thompson: Similar to its namesake in Scotland, the Glen Torridon area on Mars affords us stunning vistas, but in our case, of the relatively low-lying clay bearing (from orbit) unit … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: Exploring the new terrain – one measurement at a time

Sols 2315-17, February 11, 2019, update by MSL scientist Suzanne Schwenzer: Curiosity is driving across the clay-bearing unit, which is still a very new terrain with many details yet to be understood. The region is covered in little pebbles – … Continue reading

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Curiosity departs Vera Rubin Ridge

After exploring Mars’ Vera Rubin Ridge for more than a year, NASA’s Curiosity rover recently moved on. But a new 360-video lets the public visit Curiosity’s final drill site on the ridge, an area nicknamed “Rock Hall.” The video was … Continue reading

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Curiosity: Mastcam reaches out

Sol 2311, February 5, 2019. The two Mastcam lenses (34mm and 100mm) were put to use profiling Vera Rubin Ridge (above, with the 34mm lens) and an outcrop (below, 100mm), both seen from down on the rolling terrain of the … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: Cruising the clay-bearing unit

Sols 2313-14, February 6, 2019, update by MSL scientist Scott Guzewich: Curiosity is cruising through the clay-bearing unit on some compacted clast-rich soil, seen in this capture from Navcam. It’s some of the best driving terrain we’ve encountered in Gale … Continue reading

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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 update: Atop another (smaller) ridge

Sols 2308-10, February 1, 2019, update by MSL scientist Vivian Sun: Curiosity successfully completed her drive yesterday and is currently parked on top of one of the ridges (“Knockfarril Hill”) in the clay-bearing unit. One of the mysteries of the … Continue reading

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