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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 2 min read
Sols 4362-4363: Plates and Polygons
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on Nov. 11, 2024 – sol 4360, or Martian day 4,360 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission – at 00:06:13 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Earth planning date: Monday, Nov. 11, 2024
After a successful 23-meter (about 75 feet) drive today in pre-planning we found ourselves in front of some rocks with a curious dark, platy topping. This is similar to material we have seen previously including over the weekend where MAHLI imaged “Buttress Tree.” This beautiful hand-lens image is shown above, where you can see this more resistant platy texture at the top of the layered rock. Unfortunately it was deemed too unsafe to move the arm today, so no contact science observations were made on this dark material, but a plethora of remote science made up for it!
A curious curved fracture along a rock in the workspace became the target of our ChemCam LIBS laser shots called “Pioneer Basin.” ChemCam will then take a long-distance RMI looking back at Gediz Vallis channel, which we have been driving away from. Mastcam is focusing on taking two mosaics of areas of rocks that exhibit light- and dark-toned bands from orbit. We previously drove across these bands in January before we crossed the Gediz Vallis channel. Now that we are over the channel, we are about to drive on the dark, banded material once again. Mastcam is also imaging some interesting polygonal textures we see in a few rocks around the rover. To keep it simple, the science team named all four targets of polygonal rocks “Acrodectes Peak.”
As Curiosity drives further away from the Gediz Vallis channel, the exploration of the sulfate unit continues. Although the driving is tough at times, the beautiful discoveries and amazing geology make the tough times worth it. Let’s hope we can get some contact science activities safe and sound in the next plan.
Written by Emma Harris, Graduate Student at Natural History Museum, London
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Last Updated Nov 13, 2024 Related Terms
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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 2 min read
Sols 4359-4361: The Perfect Road Trip Destination For Any Rover!
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of its workspace, which includes several targets for investigation — “Buttress Tree,” “Forester Pass,” “Crater Mountain,” “Mahogany Creek,” and “Filly Lake.” Curiosity used its Left Navigation Camera on Nov. 8, 2024 — sol 4357, or Martian day 4.357, of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 00:06:17 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Friday, Nov. 8, 2024
After the excitement of Wednesday’s plan, it was a relief to come in today to hear that the drive toward our exit from Gediz Vallis completed successfully and that we weren’t perched on any rocks or in any other precarious position. This made for a very smooth planning morning, which is always nice on a Friday after a long week.
But that isn’t to say that Curiosity will be taking it easy for the weekend. Smooth planning means we have lots of time to pack in as much science as we can fit. Today, this meant that the geology group (GEO) got to name eight new targets, and the environmental group (ENV) got to spend some extra time contemplating the atmosphere. Reading through the list of target names from GEO felt a bit like reading a travel guide — top rocks to visit when you’re exiting Gediz Vallis!
If you look to the front of your rover, what we refer to as the “workspace” (and which you can see part of in the image above), you’ll see an array of rocks. Take in the polygonal fractures of “Colosseum Mountain” and be amazed by the structures of “Tyndall Creek” and “Cascade Valley.” Get up close and personal with our contact science targets, “Mahogany Creek,” “Forester Pass,” and “Buttress Tree.” Our workspace has something for everyone, including the laser spectrometers in the family, who will find plenty to explore with “Filly Lake” and “Crater Mountain.” We have old favorites too, like the upper Gediz Vallis Ridge and the Texoli outcrop.
After a busy day sightseeing, why not kick back with ENV and take a deep breath? APXS and ChemCam have you covered, watching the changing atmospheric composition. Look up with Navcam and you may see clouds drifting by, or spend some time looking for dust devils in the distance. Want to check the weather before planning your road trip? Our weather station REMS works around the clock, and Mastcam and Navcam are both keeping an eye on how dusty the crater is.
All good vacations must come to an end, but know that when it’s time to drive away there will be many more thrilling sights to come!
Written by Alex Innanen, Atmospheric Scientist at York University
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Last Updated Nov 11, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 4 min read
Sols 4357–4358: Turning West
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of its middle and right-rear wheels, using its Left Navigation Camera (Navcam). The difference in elevation between these two wheels at this location caused the drive planned on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, to end early. Curiosity captured the image on Nov. 5, 2024, on sol 4355 — Martian day 4,355 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 23:35:56 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024
Sols 4357–4358: Turning West
If you’ve ever driven down a road that’s in need of repaving, you’ll know that it can be an uncomfortable experience. The same is true on Mars: even at our carefully slow driving speed, the rough, rocky terrain that we’ve found ourselves in since entering Gediz Vallis many months ago continues to present challenges for our intrepid rover.
Planning today began with the news that Curiosity only made it about halfway to its intended destination from Monday. The drive terminated early after the rover exceeded one of its “suspension limits.” This refers to our “rocker-bogie” suspension system, which allows the rover to drive over obstacles while minimizing the motion experienced by the rover body. In this case, our right middle wheel is down in a trough while the right rear wheel is perched on a rock, causing the angle of the “bogie” connecting the two wheels to exceed the maximum allowed value (Those maximums are set with a healthy amount of safety margin, so we’re not in any danger!). You can see the state of the bogie in the image above. On top of that, ending the drive early also meant that we didn’t have the images that we usually use to determine if the rover is stable enough to unstow the arm, so some creative work was necessary to determine whether or not we could. Unsurprisingly, the verdict was that we shouldn’t do so while in this awkward-looking position.
As always, the team was quick to pivot to a remote sensing plan. The focus today was on getting any last-minute remote observations of the Gediz Vallis channel. This was because we decided that, rather than continuing to drive north, we would be starting our western turn toward the exit out of Gediz Vallis.
The first sol of today’s plan contains a hefty two hours of science activities. These include LIBS observations of a bedrock target “North Dome” and a pair of ChemCam passive rasters of “Jewelry Lake” and “Merced River,” two smaller rocks near the rover, the latter of which appears to have been broken open as the rover drove over it. Mastcam will then take a documentation image of North Dome, as well as a mosaic of some more bedrock at “Earthquake Dome.” This first sol also includes a set of environmental science observations, including a lengthy 30-minute dust devil movie, just over 10 minutes of Navcam cloud movies, and some Navcam monitoring of dust and sand on the rover deck. We also sneak in a Navcam line-of-sight mosaic of the north crater rim, to measure the amount of dust in the air after our drive.
The second sol is a fairly typical post-drive sol, beginning with a standard ChemCam AEGIS activity to let the rover autonomously select a LIBS target. The rest of the science time this sol is dedicated to environmental monitoring, including a Mastcam tau observation to monitor dust, some more Navcam deck monitoring, another Navcam cloud movie, and a 360-degree Navcam dust devil survey. No arm activities means the second sol also includes a Navcam shunt prevention activity (SPENDI) to burn off some extra power while also looking for clouds and dust devils. As always, REMS, RAD, and DAN will continue their standard activities throughout this plan.
When I joined the mission back in 2020, I would occasionally look at Gediz Vallis on our HiRISE maps and imagine what the view would be like between those tall, steep channel walls. So it seems almost unbelievable that we will soon be leaving Gediz Vallis behind us as we continue our trek up Mount Sharp. It will probably still be a few more weeks before we can say that we’ve officially exited Gediz Vallis, but I don’t think anyone will be saying they were disappointed with what we accomplished during this long-anticipated phase of the mission.
Onwards and upwards!
Written by Conor Hayes, graduate student at York University
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits in its run stall at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, firing up its engine for the first time. These engine-run tests start at low power and allow the X-59 team to verify the aircraft’s systems are working together while powered by its own engine. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to solve one of the major barriers to supersonic flight over land by making sonic booms quieter.NASA/Carla Thomas NASA’s Quesst mission marked a major milestone with the start of tests on the engine that will power the quiet supersonic X-59 experimental aircraft.
These engine-run tests, which began Oct. 30, allow the X-59 team to verify the aircraft’s systems are working together while powered by its own engine. In previous tests, the X-59 used external sources for power. The engine-run tests set the stage for the next phase of the experimental aircraft’s progress toward flight.
The X-59 team is conducting the engine-run tests in phases. In this first phase, the engine rotated at a relatively low speed without ignition to check for leaks and ensure all systems are communicating properly. The team then fueled the aircraft and began testing the engine at low power, with the goal of verifying that it and other aircraft systems operate without anomalies or leaks while on engine power.
Lockheed Martin test pilot Dan Canin sits in the cockpit of NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft in a run stall at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California prior to its first engine run. These engine-run tests featured the X-59 powered by its own engine, whereas in previous tests, the aircraft depended on external sources for power. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to solve one of the major barriers to supersonic flight over land by making sonic booms quieter.NASA/Carla Thomas “The first phase of the engine tests was really a warmup to make sure that everything looked good prior to running the engine,” said Jay Brandon, NASA’s X-59 chief engineer. “Then we moved to the actual first engine start. That took the engine out of the preservation mode that it had been in since installation on the aircraft. It was the first check to see that it was operating properly and that all the systems it impacted – hydraulics, electrical system, environmental control systems, etc. – seemed to be working.”
The X-59 will generate a quieter thump rather than a loud boom while flying faster than the speed of sound. The aircraft is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which will gather data on how people perceive these thumps, providing regulators with information that could help lift current bans on commercial supersonic flight over land.
The engine, a modified F414-GE-100, packs 22,000 pounds of thrust, which will enable the X-59 to achieve the desired cruising speed of Mach 1.4 (925 miles per hour) at an altitude of approximately 55,000 feet. It sits in a nontraditional spot – atop the aircraft — to aid in making the X-59 quieter.
Engine runs are part of a series of integrated ground tests needed to ensure safe flight and successful achievement of mission goals. Because of the challenges involved with reaching this critical phase of testing, the X-59’s first flight is now expected in early 2025. The team will continue progressing through critical ground tests and address any technical issues discovered with this one-of-a-kind, experimental aircraft. The X-59 team will have a more specific first flight date as these tests are successfully completed.
The testing is taking place at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. During later phases, the team will test the aircraft at high power with rapid throttle changes, followed by simulating the conditions of an actual flight.
NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits in its run stall at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, prior to its first engine run. Engine runs are part of a series of integrated ground tests needed to ensure safe flight and successful achievement of mission goals. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to solve one of the major barriers to supersonic flight over land by making sonic booms quieter.NASA/Carla Thomas “The success of these runs will be the start of the culmination of the last eight years of my career,” said Paul Dees, NASA’s deputy propulsion lead for the X-59. “This isn’t the end of the excitement but a small steppingstone to the beginning. It’s like the first note of a symphony, where years of teamwork behind the scenes are now being put to the test to prove our efforts have been effective, and the notes will continue to play a harmonious song to flight.”
After the engine runs, the X-59 team will move to aluminum bird testing, where data will be fed to the aircraft under both normal and failure conditions. The team will then proceed with a series of taxi tests, where the aircraft will be put in motion on the ground. These tests will be followed by final preparations for first flight.
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Last Updated Nov 06, 2024 EditorLillian GipsonContactMatt Kamletmatthew.r.kamlet@nasa.gov Related Terms
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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 3 min read
Sols 4355-4356: Weekend Success Brings Monday Best
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of the contact science target “Black Bear Lake” from about 7 centimeters away (about 3 inches), using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI). The MAHLI, located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, used an onboard focusing process to merge multiple images of the same target into a composite image, on Nov. 3, 2024 – sol 4353, or Martian day 4,353 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission – at 21:36:01 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Earth planning date: Monday, Nov. 4, 2024
After a spooky week last week, it’s great to see all our weekend plans succeed as planned! We don’t take success for granted as a rover going on 13 years. With all of the science at our fingertips and all the battery power we could need, the team took right advantage of this two-sol touch-and-go Monday plan. We have a bedrock DRT target for APXS and MAHLI named “Epidote Peak” and a MAHLI-only target of a crushed rock we drove over named “Milly’s Foot Path.”
APXS data is better when it’s cold, so we’ve planned the DRT brushing and APXS to start our first sol about 11:14 local Gale time. MAHLI images are usually better in the afternoon lighting, so we’ll leave the arm unstowed and spend some remote science time beforehand, about 12:15 local time. ChemCam starts that off with a LIBS raster over a bedrock block with some interesting light and dark layering, named “Albanita Meadows” and seen here in the the upper-right-ish of this Navcam workspace frame. ChemCam will then take a long-distance RMI mosaic of a portion of the upper Gediz Vallis ridge to the north. Mastcam continues the remote science with an Albanita Meadows documentation image, a 21-frame stereo mosaic of some dark-toned upturned blocks about 5 meters away (about 16 feet), a four-frame stereo mosaic of some polygonal fracture patterns about 20 meters away (about 66 feet), and a mega 44-frame stereo mosaic of Wilkerson butte, upper Gediz Vallis ridge, “Fascination Turret,” and “Pinnacle Ridge” in the distance. That’s a total of 138 Mastcam images! With remote sensing complete, the RSM will stow itself about 14:00 local time to make time for MAHLI imaging.
Between about 14:15 and 14:30 local time, MAHLI will take approximately 64 images of Epidote Peak and Milly’s Foot Path. Most of the images are being acquired in full shadow, so there is uniform lighting and saturation in the images. We’ll stow the arm at about 14:50 and begin our drive! This time we have an approximately 34-meter drive to the northwest (about 112 feet), bringing us almost all the way to the next dark-toned band in the sulfate unit. But no matter what happens with the drive, we’ll still do some remote science on the second sol including a Mastcam tau observation, a ChemCam LIBS in-the-blind (a.k.a AEGIS: Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science), and some Navcam movies of the sky and terrain.
Written by Natalie Moore, Mission Operations Specialist at Malin Space Science Systems
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Last Updated Nov 06, 2024 Related Terms
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