“Mont Mercou” as seen by Left Navigation Camera aboard NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity on Sol 3074. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech. Download image ›
Sol 3081 will be a busy one for Curiosity. The rover is still near the transition between the “Glasgow” member and the sulfate-bearing unit; Since this is a large geological transition, the science team tries to gather as much data as possible before moving away.
First, the rover intends to do a ‘touch-and-go’, to perform contact and directional distance science before driving away. First, Curiosity will exercise arm by doing APXS and MALHI observations of ‘Puymangou’, a dark spot on a mountainous terrain in front of the rover. Science will test whether the color difference represents a difference in composition relative to the nearby rock. For the Rover Planners (of which I am one today) it is a challenging target because it is small and slightly elevated relative to the surrounding parts of the rock. We must also avoid the nearby bags of sand that are trapped by the rough surface of the rock. After the arm activities, Curiosity will store the arm to prepare for management.
Before you drive away, there are a set of targeted scientific observations with Mastcam. In addition to a small 3×3 mosaic of the contact science target, we take a large stereo mosaic of “Mont Mercou” from the southwest to get more views of the sedimentary structures of the ridge. In addition to all the photos we took from other places around Mont Mercou, this last set will enable us to build a complete 3D model of it. At the same time before the ride, ChemCam will also conduct a passive air observation as part of our environment.
Then we say goodbye to Mont Mercou and start our ride, about 30 meters south-southwest. The terrain in this area is quite rocky and has sand stains, which presents another challenge for the Rover Planners. Curiosity will make a detour to some of the sharper rocks and larger sand spots to land on a peak that provides a good view for planning the next ride, as well as to land on a certain rock to get in touch over the weekend to make possible. plan. The Rover Planners (and Curiosity’s wheels) are definitely looking forward to being further south, where the terrain is more favorable and our driving levels no longer have to look like a slalom track.
After the ride, we will take some pictures to support the next ride, as well as some extra ChemCam observations of the air and its calibration objectives to monitor the health of the instrument. Just before sunset we will again do a set of cloud observations with Mastcam and Navcam in the hope of getting another spectacular image of the cloudy sky and a MARDI image of the ground under the rover. Finally, early the next morning, we will be doing some more environmental observations, including a dust devil movie and a movie above the horizon.
On the second sol of the plan, we do more atmospheric observations of the sun, the horizon, more dust devil movies, as well as some Mastcam twilight images.