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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Mars Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions All Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets 2 min read
Sols 4236-4238: One More Time… for Contact Science at Mammoth Lakes
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, on July 4, 2024, Sol 4234 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 16:38:50 UTC. This image of the Mammoth Lakes 2 drill fines and drill hole was taken from about 25 centimeters (about 10 inches) above the surface. Earth planning date: Friday, July 5, 2024
Curiosity will drive away from the Mammoth Lakes drill location on the second sol of this three-sol weekend plan, but before she does, the team will take the opportunity for one last chance at contact science in this interesting region of the Gediz Vallis deposit. The team have noticed distinct troughs surrounding many of the bright-toned, pitted blocks in this area and have been wanting to get closer imaging with MAHLI before driving away. We were unable to do this with powdered Mammoth Lakes still in the drill stem but, having dumped any remaining material in the previous plan, Curiosity is free to use her arm again for contact science, and hence the MAHLI camera. We will take images from about 30 centimeters (about 12 inches) away from the block (“Glacier Notch”) with MAHLI. Unfortunately, “Glacier Notch” was too close to the rover to be able to fit the turret in for APXS to examine the chemistry, so we had to choose a different target: “Lake Ediza” is an example of gray material that rims the Mammoth Lakes drill block.
We also have one last chance for ChemCam and Mastcam in this immediate area. We will acquire ChemCam passive spectra of the Mammoth Lakes powdered material surrounding the drill hole (we collected APXS data and MAHLI images of the drill fines in the previous plan) and LIBS on a darker-toned target, “Zumwalt Meadow.” These targets will be documented by Mastcam. The long-distance imaging capabilities of ChemCam will also be utilized to examine nearby ridge and trough-like forms.
There are also a slew of atmospheric/environmental observations planned. Before we drive away, we will take advantage of being parked in the same spot while drilling to monitor any changes in the immediate environment by re-imaging a couple of areas previously captured on multiple occasions by Mastcam. Other atmospheric observations include a Navcam line-of-sight mosaic, Navcam dust devil, zenith, and suprahorizon movies, a ChemCam passive sky, and Mastcam taus.
After the drive, MARDI will image the terrain beneath the wheels and ChemCam will autonomously select a target to analyze with LIBS. Standard REMS, DAN and RAD activities round out the plan.
The team are looking forward to a new workspace when we return for planning on Monday, and continued investigation of the Gediz Vallis deposit.
Written by Lucy Thompson, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick
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Last Updated Jul 06, 2024 Related Terms
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Sols 4234-4235: And That’s (Nearly) a Wrap on Mammoth Lakes!
This image was taken by Mast Camera (Mastcam) onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4219 (2024-06-19 02:21:12 UTC). Earth Planning Date: Wednesday, July 3, 2024
We received the data from our SAM analysis of the Mammoth Lakes sample late Monday afternoon. After chewing over the results, the team declared we are very happy with all of the analyses we’ve done with this sample, and we are ready to move on to greener pastures… er, redder rocks! This decision means that we will go ahead and clear out the drill assembly in today’s plan, and subsequently use the arm to collect MAHLI and APXS observations of the pile of drill tailings around the drill hole.
We’ll also have some time for remote sensing activities that use our mast-mounted instruments. Even though we’ve been parked at this location for several weeks, we’re still finding lots of things to look at! ChemCam will collect LIBS observations on a light-toned rock target named “Finger Peaks,” as well as a bumpy rock named “Glen Aulin.” We’ll also collect some additional Mastcam images of interesting features in the area, and a long-distance RMI mosaic of a target named “Rock Island Pass.” Several kinds of environmental monitoring activities will round out the plan.
It’s been a very productive drill sampling campaign here at Mammoth Lakes, our first after crossing into Gediz Vallis channel, and I’m excited to start getting ready to move on. What’s around the corner in this fascinating area of Mt. Sharp?
Written by Abigail Fraeman, Planetary Geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Last Updated Jul 03, 2024 Related Terms
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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Mars Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions All Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets 2 min read
Sols 4229-4231: More Analyses of the Mammoth Lakes 2 Sample!
The inlet into to the SAM instrument open and awaiting sample delivery. This image was taken by Right Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4226 (2024-06-26 11:06:46 UTC). Earth Planning Date: Friday, June 28, 2024
After reviewing results from the Evolved Gas Analysis (EGA) experiment that were downlinked yesterday afternoon (Sols 4226-4228: A Powerful Balancing Act), the SAM team decided they’d like to go ahead with a second experiment to analyze the Mammoth Lakes 2 drilled sample. This experiment is known as the Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer (GCMS) experiment.
SAM, whose full name is Sample Analysis at Mars, is actually a suite of three different analytical instruments that are used to measure the composition of gases which come off drilled samples as we bake them in SAM’s ovens. The three analytical instruments are called a gas chromatograph, quadrupole mass spectrometer, and tunable laser spectrometer. Each one is particularly suited for measuring specific kinds of compounds in the gases, and these include things like water, methane, carbon, or organic (carbon-containing) molecules. In the EGA experiment that we ran in our last plan, we baked the Mammoth Lakes 2 sample and measured the gas compositions using the tunable laser spectrometer and quadrupole mass spectrometer. In this plan, we’ll deliver a new pinch of sample to the SAM oven and then measure the composition of the gases that are released using the gas chromatograph and quadrupole mass spectrometer. By running both experiments, we’ll have a more thorough understanding of the materials that are in this rock.
The SAM GCMS experiment takes a lot of power to run, so it will be the focus of today’s three-sol plan. However, we still managed to fit in some other science activities around the experiment, including a ChemCam RMI mosaic of some far-off ridges, a ChemCam LIBS observation of a nodular target named “Trail Lakes,” environmental monitoring activities, and a couple Mastcam mosaics to continue imaging the terrain around the rover. Should be another fun weekend of science in Gale crater!
Written by Abigail Fraeman, Planetary Geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Last Updated Jul 01, 2024 Related Terms
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
The JunoCam instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured two volcanic plumes rising above the horizon of Jupiter’s moon Io. The image was taken Feb. 3 from a distance of about 2,400 miles (3,800 kilometers).Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS, Image processing by Andrea Luck (CC BY) Infrared imagery from the solar-powered spacecraft heats up the discussion on the inner workings of Jupiter’s hottest moon.
New findings from NASA’s Juno probe provide a fuller picture of how widespread the lava lakes are on Jupiter’s moon Io and include first-time insights into the volcanic processes at work there. These results come courtesy of Juno’s Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument, contributed by the Italian Space Agency, which “sees” in infrared light. Researchers published a paper on Juno’s most recent volcanic discoveries on June 20 in the journal Nature Communications Earth and Environment.
Io has intrigued the astronomers since 1610, when Galileo Galilei first discovered the Jovian moon, which is slightly larger than Earth. Some 369 years later, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft captured a volcanic eruption on the moon. Subsequent missions to Jupiter, with more Io flybys, discovered additional plumes — along with lava lakes. Scientists now believe Io, which is stretched and squeezed like an accordion by neighboring moons and massive Jupiter itself, is the most volcanically active world in the solar system. But while there are many theories on the types of volcanic eruptions across the surface of the moon, little supporting data exists.
In both May and October 2023, Juno flew by Io, coming within about 21,700 miles (35,000 kilometers) and 8,100 miles (13,000 kilometers), respectively. Among Juno’s instruments getting a good look at the beguiling moon was JIRAM.
Infrared data collected Oct. 15, 2023, by the JIRAM instrument aboard NASA’s Juno shows Chors Patera, a lava lake on Jupiter’s moon Io. The team believes the lake is largely covered by a thick, molten crust, with a hot ring around the edges where lava from Io’s interior is directly exposed to space.NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM/MSSS Designed to capture the infrared light (which is not visible to the human eye) emerging from deep inside Jupiter, JIRAM probes the weather layer down to 30 to 45 miles (50 to 70 kilometers) below the gas giant’s cloud tops. But during Juno’s extended mission, the mission team has also used the instrument to study the moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. The JIRAM Io imagery showed the presence of bright rings surrounding the floors of numerous hot spots.
“The high spatial resolution of JIRAM’s infrared images, combined with the favorable position of Juno during the flybys, revealed that the whole surface of Io is covered by lava lakes contained in caldera-like features,” said Alessandro Mura, a Juno co-investigator from the National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome. “In the region of Io’s surface in which we have the most complete data, we estimate about 3% of it is covered by one of these molten lava lakes.” (A caldera is a large depression formed when a volcano erupts and collapses.)
Fire-Breathing Lakes
JIRAM’s Io flyby data not only highlights the moon’s abundant lava reserves, but also provides a glimpse of what may be going on below the surface. Infrared images of several Io lava lakes show a thin circle of lava at the border, between the central crust that covers most of the lava lake and the lake’s walls. Recycling of melt is implied by the lack of lava flows on and beyond the rim of the lake, indicating that there is a balance between melt that has erupted into the lava lakes and melt that is circulated back into the subsurface system.
This animation is an artist’s concept of Loki Patera, a lava lake on Jupiter’s moon Io, made using data from the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft. With multiple islands in its interior, Loki is a depression filled with magma and rimmed with molten lava. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS “We now have an idea of what is the most frequent type of volcanism on Io: enormous lakes of lava where magma goes up and down,” said Mura. “The lava crust is forced to break against the walls of the lake, forming the typical lava ring seen in Hawaiian lava lakes. The walls are likely hundreds of meters high, which explains why magma is generally not observed spilling out of the paterae” — bowl-shaped features created by volcanism — “and moving across the moon’s surface.”
JIRAM data suggests that most of the surface of these Io hot spots is composed of a rocky crust that moves up and down cyclically as one contiguous surface due to the central upwelling of magma. In this hypothesis, because the crust touches the lake’s walls, friction keeps it from sliding, causing it to deform and eventually break, exposing lava just below the surface.
An alternative hypothesis remains in play: Magma is welling up in the middle of the lake, spreading out and forming a crust that sinks along the rim of the lake, exposing lava.
“We are just starting to wade into the JIRAM results from the close flybys of Io in December 2023 and February 2024,” said Scott Bolton, principal investigator for Juno at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “The observations show fascinating new information on Io’s volcanic processes. Combining these new results with Juno’s longer-term campaign to monitor and map the volcanoes on Io’s never-before-seen north and south poles, JIRAM is turning out to be one of the most valuable tools to learn how this tortured world works.”
Juno executed its 62nd flyby of Jupiter — which included an Io flyby at an altitude of about 18,175 miles (29,250 kilometers) — on June 13. The 63rd flyby of the gas giant is scheduled for July 16.
More About the Mission
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Italian Space Agency (ASI) funded the Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.
More information about Juno is available at:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/juno
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DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Charles Blue
NASA Headquarters
202-385-1287 / 202-802-5345
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / charles.e.blue@nasa.gov
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210-522-2254dschmid@swri.org
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Last Updated Jun 26, 2024 Related Terms
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A group of spectators view a solar eclipse at Great Lakes Science Center in 2017.Credit: NASA/Andrew Dolph Media are invited to attend an open house from 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Feb. 13, at Great Lakes Science Center, home of the NASA Glenn Visitor Center.
During the open house, news outlets will get a preview of the Science Center’s Total Eclipse Fest, which is scheduled to take place April 6-8, and learn everything they need to know to cover the total solar eclipse on April 8.
Representatives from NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Great Lakes Science Center, and The Cleveland Orchestra will share what to expect during the three-day festival, including:
Things to do and see at the festival How to film an eclipse NASA TV broadcast and telescope feeds Notable interview opportunities Festival coverage logistics NASA Glenn experts also will talk about the science behind the solar eclipse, how to view the eclipse safely, and how NASA studies eclipses to make new discoveries about the Sun, Earth, and our space environment.
For more information on NASA Glenn, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/NASAinCLE
-end-
Jacqueline Minerd
Glenn Research Center, Cleveland
216-905-6774
jacqueline.minerd@nasa.gov
Joe Yachanin
Great Lakes Science Center
216-696-3644
yachaninj@glsc.org
Jen Steer
The Cleveland Orchestra
216-231-7637
jsteer@clevelandorchestra.com
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