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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 Mars Home 2 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4602-4603: On Top of the Ridge
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image looking along the ridge it is exploring during its planned activities for July 16, 2025. Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on July 15 — Sol 4600, or Martian day 4,600 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 17:12:14 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Alex Innanen, Atmospheric Scientist at York University
Earth planning date: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
As we hoped, we successfully climbed the 11-meter ramp (about 36 feet) and have arrived at the top of the ridge and the start of the main boxwork region. This means we’re moving into the next phase of the boxwork campaign, which is all about assessing these features and how we can navigate our way through them, and learning everything we can about their composition.
In support of that, we’re taking a good look around at the boxwork ridges with both ChemCam and Mastcam. Both instruments are taking mosaics of the more distant ridges to get a broader view of their features. A bit closer in, Mastcam has three more mosaics: two looking at different views of “El Corral” and “Chapare,” both of which we saw in Monday’s plan, and “Meson,” which is the ridge we’ll be heading for in today’s 15-meter drive (about 49 feet).
It’s not all looking ahead, though. The workspace in front of us has a lot to offer as well. Mastcam will be turning its sights to some nearby linear features. Our workspace is also full of nodular bedrock, which is getting lots of up-close attention. ChemCam will be turning its LIBS laser on a target called “Altamora,” and MAHLI and APXS will be examining another target called “Nocarane.”
With all the geological excitement, we can still manage to squeeze in some time to keep an eye on the environment. Though we don’t always mention them, REMS, RAD, and DAN are always there working steadily away to build up our understanding of Mars’ environment. We’ll also round out the plan with a suprahorizon cloud movie and a 360-degree dust-devil survey.
For more Curiosity blog posts, visit MSL Mission Updates
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Last Updated Jul 18, 2025 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 Mars Home 2 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4600-4601: Up and Over the Sand Covered Ramp
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on July 13, 2025 — Sol 4598, or Martian day 4,598 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 15:24:10 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Earth planning date: Monday, July 14, 2025
The Curiosity rover continues to navigate through the region of Mount Sharp characterized by the boxwork terrain. After successfully completing a drive of about 34 meters over the weekend (about 112 feet), the rover parked near the edge of a smooth, sandy stretch at the base of a ridge that leads to the most prominent and complex network of boxwork structures seen so far.
Due to the lack of exposed bedrock in the immediate workspace, the science team opted to give some of the rover’s contact science instruments a break. With the dust removal tool (DRT) and APXS instruments stowed, the extra energy allowed the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to take high resolution images of “Playa de la Gallina” to survey the uniform, smooth surface consisting of sand and pebble-sized material.
The ChemCam and Mastcam teams scheduled several observations in this two-sol plan that further investigated the rocks and structures in our immediate vicinity and surroundings. ChemCam LIBS was used to target “El Olivo” to determine the chemistry of the bumpy textured bedrock near the rover, which was also imaged by a Mastcam stereo mosaic. Additional Mastcam stereo mosaics include fractures at “El Corral” and linear troughs at “Chapare.” Further away, ChemCam’s Remote Micro Imager (RMI) will provide insight into an intriguing section of scoured features within the Mishe Mokwa butte.
The environmental working group continues to keep an eye in the sky and planned a supra-horizon movie and a dust-devil survey as part of their ongoing monitoring campaign of the atmospheric conditions in Gale Crater.
The 21-meter-long drive (about 69 feet) at the end of this plan will maneuver the rover past the sandy ramp to the top of the main boxwork region. From here, the science team will be able to explore this fascinating area of particularly large boxwork structures. Stay tuned as Curiosity continues to climb higher and delve deeper into the geologic history of Mars!
For more Curiosity blog posts, visit MSL Mission Updates
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Last Updated Jul 16, 2025 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 Mars Home 2 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4597-4599: Wide Open Spaces
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image, of the sweeping Mount Sharp vista into which the rover will drive the weekend of July 11-12, 2025, using its onboard Left Navigation Camera. Curiosity captured the image on July 11, 2025 — Sol 4596, or Martian day 4,596 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 12:01:55 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Michelle Minitti, MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator, Framework
Earth planning date: Friday, July 11, 2025
Imagine this vista as the view out your office window to start your workday. Your natural tendency would be to grab your camera and photograph as much of the view as possible. Curiosity was lucky enough to find herself in this situation today after a successful drive of about 61 meters (about 200 feet) on Wednesday, and the science team operating Curiosity wasted no time papering the scene with mosaics.
Between Mastcam and ChemCam, we planned 105 images across the scene. Those images will capture the structures underpinning the boxwork ridges we are driving toward, smaller-scale fractures in the near field that might be related to the boxwork ridges, and the back side of a ridge we recently studied in detail, “Volcán Peña Blanca.” Together, the images will help us understand the geologic history of the area that hosts the boxwork ridges, and what conditions existed in this part of Mount Sharp to support their formation.
We did not neglect the rocks directly in front of the rover as we gazed at our surroundings. Indeed, the bedrock near the rover was nearly uniformly packed with small (less than 1 centimeter, or 0.39 inches) rounded nodules, a characteristic we have not seen for awhile. MAHLI will image three different instances of the nodules while APXS and ChemCam will each analyze two different targets to understand the chemistry of the nodules and the bedrock hosting them.
REMS, RAD, and DAN will continue to monitor the Martian environment and subsurface throughout the weekend. Additionally, we planned multiple observations of dust devils, the amount of dust in the atmosphere, and clouds including a cloud movie timed to match the overflight of the CASSIS instrument. Our drive will take us to the foot of the smooth slope seen in the distance of the above image. That slope is the ramp we will take to the top of a big boxwork structure, where surely other delightful vistas await.
For more Curiosity blog posts, visit MSL Mission Updates
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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 Mars Home 3 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4595-4596: Just Another Beautiful Day on Mars
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on July 9, 2025 — Sol 4594, or Martian day 4,594 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 11:03:48 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Earth planning date: Wednesday, July 9, 2025
In today’s plan, we have a little bit of everything. With it being winter still, we are taking advantage of the ability to let the rover sleep in, doing most of the activities in the afternoon when it is warmer and we need less heating. As the Systems Engineer (Engineering Uplink Lead) today, I sequenced the needed heating and some other engineering housekeeping activities.
We start off with an extensive remote science block with Mastcam imaging of a nearby trough to look for potential sand activity. There is color imaging of a displaced block, “Ouro,” near a circular depression — could this be a small crater? Mastcam also takes a look at a ridge “Volcán Peña Blanca” to look at the sedimentary structures, which may provide insights into its formation. ChemCam LIBS and Mastcam team up to look at the “Los Andes” target, which is the dark face of a nearby piece of exposed bedrock. ChemCam RMI and Mastcam check out a distant small outcrop to examine the geometry of the layers. We also throw in environmental observations, a Mastcam solar Tau and a Navcam line-of-site looking at dust in the atmosphere. After a nap, Curiosity will be doing some contact science activities on “Cataratas del Jardín” and “Rio Ivirizu” bedrock targets. Looking at two nearby targets for variability can help us understand the local geology. Cataratas del Jardín gets a brushing to clear away the dust before both targets are examined by MAHLI and APXS. Fortunately for the Arm Rover Planner, both of these targets are fairly flat and easy to reach. Before going to sleep for the night, Curiosity will stow the arm to be ready for driving on the next sol.On the second sol, there is more remote science. ChemCam LIBS and Mastcam will examine “Torotoro,” another piece of layered bedrock. ChemCam RMI will take a mosaic of “Paniri,” which is an interesting incision in the rock that is filled with another material. There are also environmental observations, a Navcam dust devil survey and a suprahorizon movie. After another nap, Curiosity is getting on the road. We’re heading southwest (direction shown in the image) about 50 meters (about 164 feet), but we need to sneak between sandy pits and skirt around some terrain that we can’t see behind. The terrain here provides pretty nice driving, though, without a lot of big boulders, steep slopes, or pointy rocks that can poke holes in our wheels. After the standard post-drive imaging for our next plan, there are some Navcam observations to look for clouds and our normal look under the rover with MARDI before Curiosity goes to sleep for the night.
For more Curiosity blog posts, visit MSL Mission Updates
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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 Mars Home 4 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4593-4594: Three Layers and a Lot of Structure at Volcán Peña Blanca
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) to acquire this image showing a part of Volcán Peña Blanca from about 10 meters away (about 33 feet). It is already possible to see the different layers and make out that some of them are parallel, while others are at an angle. Curiosity acquired this image on July 6, 2025 — Sol 4591, or Martian day 4,591 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 10:13:13 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Written by Susanne P. Schwenzer, Professor of Planetary Mineralogy at The Open University, UK
Earth planning date: Monday, July 7, 2025
A few planning sols ago, we spotted a small ridge in the landscape ahead of us. Ridges and structures that are prominently raised above the landscape are our main target along this part of Curiosity’s traverse. There are many hypotheses on how they formed, and water is one of the likely culprits involved. That is because water reacts with the original minerals, moves the compounds around and some precipitate as minerals in the pore spaces, which is called “cement” by sedimentologists, and generally known as one mechanism to make a rock harder. It’s not the only one, so the Curiosity science team is after all the details at this time to assess whether water indeed was responsible for the more resistant nature of the ridges. Spotting one that is so clearly raised prominently above the landscape — and in easy reach of the rover, both from the distance but also from the path that leads up to it — was therefore very exciting. In addition, the fact that we get a side view of the structure as well as a top view adds to the team’s ability to read the geologic record of this area. “Outcrops,” as we call those places, are one of the most important tools for any field geologist, including Curiosity and team!
Therefore, the penultimate drive stopped about 10 meters away (about 33 feet) from the structure to get a good assessment of where exactly to direct the rover (see the blog post by my colleague Abby). You can see an example of the images Curiosity took with its Mast Camera above; if you want to see them all, they are on the raw images page (and by the time you go, there may be even more images that we took in today’s plan.
With all the information from the last parking spot, the rover drivers parked Curiosity in perfect operating distance for all instruments. In direct view of the rover was a part of Volcán Peña Blanca that shows several units; this blogger counts at least three — but I am a mineralogist, not a sedimentologist! I am really looking forward to the chemical data we will get in this plan. My sedimentologist colleagues found the different angles of smaller layers in the three bigger layers especially interesting, and will look at the high-resolution images from the MAHLI instrument very closely.
With all that in front of us, Curiosity has a very full plan. APXS will get two measurements, the target “Parinacota” is on the upper part of the outcrop and we can even clean it from the dust with the brush, aka DRT. MAHLI will get close-up images to see finer structures and maybe even individual grains. The second APXS target, called “Wila Willki,” is located in the middle part of the outcrop and will also be documented by MAHLI. The third activity of MAHLI will be a so-called dog’s-eye view of the outcrop. For this, the arm reaches very low down to align MAHLI to directly face the outcrop, to get a view of the structures and even a peek underneath some of the protruding ledges. The team is excitedly anticipating the arrival of those images. Stay tuned; you can also find them in the raw images section as soon as we have them!
ChemCam is joining in with two LIBS targets — the target “Pichu Pichu” is on the upper part of the outcrop, and the target “Tacume” is on the middle part. After this much of close up looks, ChemCam is pointing the RMI to the mid-field to look at another of the raised features in more detail and into the far distance to see the upper contact of the boxwork unit with the next unit above it. Mastcam will first join the close up looks and take a large mosaic to document all the details of Volcán Peña Blanca, and to document the LIBS targets, before looking into the distance at two places where we see small troughs around exposed bedrock.
Of course, there are also atmospheric observations in the plan; it’s aphelion cloud season and dust is always of interest. The latter is regularly monitored by atmosphere opacity experiments, and we keep searching for dust devils to understand where, how and why they form and how they move. Curiosity will be busy, and we are very much looking forward to understanding this interesting feature, which is one piece of the puzzle to understand this area we call the boxwork area.
For more Curiosity blog posts, visit MSL Mission Updates
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