Tag Archives: Naukluft Plateau

Curiosity update: Clear sailing

Sol 1353-54, May 26, 2016, update from USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: The Sol 1352 post-drive imaging shows that, while there are sandy ripples ahead, there are enough rocky patches that the rover should not have any problem driving toward the … Continue reading

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Curiosity: The way west

Sol 1352, May 26, 2016. Three Navcam frames composited look ahead toward Fracture Town, the rover’s probable course to the west and southwest. (Click image to enlarge.) Sol 1352 raw images (from all cameras), and Curiosity’s latest location.

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Curiosity update: Scouting a path

Sol 1352, May 25, 2016, update from USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: We’d like to keep driving toward the southwest, but can’t see all of the terrain ahead from our current location.  So the Sol 1352 plan includes a short drive … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: Ridge chemistry

Sol 1351, May 24, 2016, update from USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: MSL is in a good position for contact science on the small ridge in front of the rover, so the Sol 1351 operations team decided to stay here and … Continue reading

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Curiosity zaps a thin sheet of rock

Sol 1350, May 24, 2016. The ChemCam’s laser took aim at the upper surface of a thin sheet of rock, and stitched five zap pits across its surface. Note how the laser triggered bursts of gas from the target rock … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: Data processing delay

Sol 1350, May 23, 2016, update from USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: I’m SOWG Chair again today, and started browsing the latest data from MSL early this morning.  To my dismay, the post-drive images that we expected to receive in time for … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: A smoother route

Sol 1348-49, May 20, 2016, update from USGS scientist Ryan Anderson: Our drive on Sol 1346 was successful and brought us to a location with a view of the rugged ridges of the area we’ve been calling “Fracture Town”. In … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: Onward to Fracture Town

Sol 1346-47, May 19, 2016, update from USGS scientist Ryan Anderson: We are coming up on the edge of Naukluft plateau (again!). The plan for Sol 1346 starts off with ChemCam observations of the targets “Etusis” and “Etiro”, to continue … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: Touch and go

Sol 1344-45, May 16, 2016, update from USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: The drive planned last weekend completed successfully, moving MSL less than 6 meters into position for contact science on the rocks broken by the rover wheels.  Planning is restricted … Continue reading

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Curiosity: Rough on the rocks

Sol 1342, May 15, 2016. The rover’s Mastcam, using its 100-mm lens, took a nine-frame composite of some rocks at Lubango that were scuffed and scraped by Curiosity’s wheels. That action removed the rocks’ tawny dust coating and revealed the … Continue reading

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