An Unexpected Stop, the Sequel: Sols 3594-3595

As Dr. Abigail Fraeman noted a couple weeks ago, Curiosity is navigating through terrain that is difficult to traverse. At the start of today's planning cycle, Curiosity's operations team received data that informed us that our previously planned drive came up short, only completing 36 cm of a planned ~7 m drive.

Curiosity remained surrounded by a mix of large rocks and sand, neither of which are overly amenable to swift Mars driving. In the case of the prior intended drive, Curiosity terminated mobility activities autonomously, prompted by the effects of having the right-rear wheel in sand and the right-middle wheel perched on a sizable rock.

The plan today focused on backing Curiosity out of this configuration, and re-re-attempting the intended drive. In terms of science in the plan, our mobility goals were complemented by DAN activities before (passive) and after (active) our drive.

Prior to the drive, Curiosity completed Mastcam and ChemCam imaging activities before unstowing the arm to acquire MAHLI images of the raised-fin target "Tiger Pond" and a vein-like target "La Mata."

Related Links
Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more

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Sols 3592-3593: Onwards
Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 13, 2022
Curiosity is back on the road! The arm (seen above while conducting science activities on sol 3583) is good to go, so the team planned a full day of activities. Curiosity has been sitting in the same place for a few sols, so the team has been taking advantage of that to get extra observations in this area. One Mastcam observation is an extension of a mosaic ("Parai Pond") that was started last week. Additionally, there is a Mastcam multispectral observation in the plan to capture bedrock that show ... read more