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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 3 min read
Sols 4396-4397: Roving in a Martian Wonderland
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Right Navigation Camera on Dec. 16, 2024 at 00:22:16 UTC — sol 4394, or Martian day 4,394 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Monday, Dec. 16, 2024
Over the weekend Curiosity continued her trek around the northern end of Texoli butte, taking in the beautiful views in all directions. Steep buttes reveal cross-sections through ancient sedimentary strata, while the blocks in our workspace contain nice layers and veins — a detailed record of past surface processes on Mars. Sometimes we get so used to our normal routine of rover operations that I almost forget how incredible it is to be exploring ancient sedimentary rocks on another planet and seeing new data every day. Curiosity certainly found a beautiful field site!
But the challenges are a good reminder of what it takes to safely explore Mars. We had hoped that the weekend drive could be extended a little bit using a guarded driving mode (using auto navigation), but the drive stopped early during the guarded portion. Because the drive stopped short, we did not have adequate imaging around all of the rover wheels to fully assess the terrain, which meant that unfortunately Curiosity did not pass the Slip Risk Assessment Process (SRAP) and we could not use the rover arm for contact science today. The team quickly pivoted to remote sensing, knowing there will be other chances to use the instruments on the arm in upcoming plans.
Today’s two-sol plan includes targeted science and a drive on the first sol, followed by untargeted remote sensing on the second sol. The Geology and Mineralogy Theme Group planned ChemCam LIBS and Mastcam on a target named “Avalon” to characterize a dark vein that crosscuts the bedrock in our workspace. Then Curiosity will acquire two long-distance RMI mosaics to document the first glimpse of distant boxwork structures, and a view of the top of Mount Sharp from this perspective. This Martian wonderland includes a lot of beautiful sedimentary structures and fractures, so the team planned Mastcam mosaics to assess a stratigraphic interval that may contain more climbing ripples, another mosaic to characterize the orientation of fractures, and a third mosaic to look at veins and sedimentary layers. Then Curiosity will drive about 50 meters (about 164 feet) to the southwest, and will take post-drive imaging to prepare for planning on Wednesday. The second sol is untargeted, so GEO added an autonomously selected ChemCam LIBS target. The plan includes standard DAN and REMS environmental monitoring activities, plus a dust-devil movie and Navcam line-of-sight observation to assess atmospheric dust.
I was on shift as Long-Term Planner today, so in addition to thinking about today’s plan, we’re already looking ahead at the activities that the rover will conduct over the December holidays. We’re gearing up to send Curiosity our Christmas wish list later this week, and feeling grateful for the gifts she has already sent us!
Written by Lauren Edgar, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center
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Last Updated Dec 17, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program, in preparation for the agency’s Artemis II crewed mission to the Moon, begin installing the first of four emergency egress baskets on the mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. The baskets, similar to gondolas on ski lifts, are used in the case of a pad abort emergency to enable astronauts and other pad personnel a way to quickly escape away from the mobile launcher to the base of the pad and where waiting emergency transport vehicles will then drive them away.NASA/Isaac Watson Recently, teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center met with engineering teams at a central Florida amusement park to share knowledge on a new braking system NASA is using for its launch pad emergency egress system for Artemis missions.
“We have a new magnetic braking system for the Artemis emergency egress system and NASA hasn’t used this technology on the ground infrastructure side before to support launches,” said Jesse Berdis, mobile launcher 1 deputy project manager for EGS. “I realized we have neighbors 50 miles from us in Orlando that are essentially the world experts on magnetic braking systems.”
For Artemis, teams will use a track cable that connects the mobile launcher to the terminus site near the perimeter of NASA Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B, where four baskets, similar to gondola lifts, can ride down. This is where the magnetic braking system operates to help control the acceleration of the baskets in multiple weight and environmental conditions. At the pad terminus site, armored emergency response vehicles are stationed to take personnel safely away from the launch pad to a designated safe site at Kennedy.
Many roller coaster manufacturers employ the use of an “eddy current braking system,” which involves using magnetics to help slow down a vehicle. Though the applications used on the roller coasters differ slightly from what the EGS teams are using for Artemis, the concept is the same, explained Amanda Arrieta, mobile launcher 1 senior element engineer.
However, unlike roller coasters which are typically in use daily for multiple hours on end, the Artemis emergency egress system is there for emergency situations only.
“We don’t plan to ever run our system unless we’re testing it or performing maintenance,” Berdis said.
Regardless of this, teams at Kennedy have ensured the system is able to function for years to come to support future Artemis missions.
“The maintenance crews [at the amusement park] were awesome because they showed us their nightly, monthly, and yearly inspections on what they were doing,” Berdis said. “That gave our operations teams a really good foundation and baseline knowledge of what to expect when they maintain and operate this system for the Artemis missions.”
Some of the conversations and suggestions teams shared include adding an acceleration sensor in the emergency egress baskets during testing. The sensor will help detect how fast the baskets are going when they ride down.
The emergency egress system is one of several new additions the EGS team is implementing to prepare for future crewed missions starting with Artemis II, and this system especially emphasizes the importance of safety.
“We have a mission, and a part of that mission is in case of an emergency, which we don’t expect, is to protect our astronauts and supporting teams at the launch pad,” Berdis said. “We want our teams to be safe and, for any scenario we put them in, especially on the ground infrastructure side, it’s important for us to do our due diligence. That includes talking to other groups that are the experts in their field to ensure we have looked at all possibilities across the board to ensure our mission is a safe one for our teams.”
During the Space Shuttle Program, teams used a similar system for the escape route astronauts and other personnel take in the event of an emergency during a launch countdown. However, instead of using a magnetic braking system for the baskets, teams used a mechanical braking system, which involved using a catch net and drag chain to slow and then halt the baskets sliding down the wire.
For the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, SpaceX also uses a catch net and drag chain for its slidewire cable at NASA Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A pad and a deployable chute at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Boeing and United Launch Alliance also use a slidewire, but instead of baskets, the team deploys seats, like riding down a zip line, that ride down the slide wires at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Under NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will establish the foundation for long-term scientific exploration at the Moon, land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the lunar surface, and prepare for human expeditions to Mars for the benefit of all.
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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 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 4255-4256: Just Passing Through
Navcam Left image of our stowed arm turret, including the drill as it rests between drill campaigns NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Happy Wednesday, terrestrials! We wrapped up our Mammoth Lakes drill campaign only three weeks ago and are already looking for our next drill site. This will be the last drill campaign in the Gediz Vallis region, an area on Mars the Curiosity team has had their eyes on since sol 0, just under 12 years ago! This upcoming campaign is even more exciting after the elemental sulfur we found at Mammoth Lakes. And while sulfur on its own doesn’t smell, I’ve always wondered… what does Mars smell like?
Finding ourselves less than a meter from our hopeful end-of-drive on Monday, we started on a very familiar plan: Starting with an arm backbone for removing dust and using APXS to investigate a bedrock target named “Russell Pass,” placing the arm out of the way for imaging, spending just over an hour on Mastcam imaging and ChemCam LIBS on Russell Pass, then one more arm backbone for MAHLI images of Russell Pass, and finally a drive in the afternoon. These plans, dubbed “touch-and-go” plans, are usually busy at the start and slow at the end. Our drive this time is planned to go ~10 meters almost perfectly east and leaving our heading almost perfectly west. If on Friday, our wheels are solidly on the Martian ground and there is a flat-enough bedrock surface to place our drill, we might be staying put for another two weeks while we try and collect another Gediz Vallis channel sample. And since we drive backwards with the arm taking up the rear, we might even have a workspace we’ve already driven over – hopefully exposing some internal bedrock even before drilling.
Written by Natalie Moore, Mission Operations Specialist at Malin Space Science Systems
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Last Updated Jul 29, 2024 Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
Two large asteroids will safely pass Earth this week, a rare occurrence perfectly timed to commemorate this year's Asteroid Day. Neither poses any risk to our planet, but one of them was only discovered a week ago, highlighting the need to continue improving our ability to detect potentially hazardous object in our cosmic neighbourhood.
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By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Science Instruments Science Highlights News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Mars Resources Mars Exploration All Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets 4 min read
Sols 4209-4211: Just Out of Reach
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 June 7, 2024, Sol 4207 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 04:20:07 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Earth planning date: Friday, June 7, 2024
Curiosity is going to have a busy 3-sol weekend. We have one more sol of intense contact science activities at this really beautiful and fascinating location before moving on. What makes this place so special? We are seeing a lot of variety in the rocks in terms of their colors and textures. The MAHLI image is an up-close view of the unusual coloration we’re seeing, which our scientists are busy investigating. In particular, the Whitebark Pass block just in front of us, which we have been investigating for several days, is highly complex. We are evaluating it as a potential drill target, but the spots we might drill are just a little too far away from our current location. Today I am the Tactical Uplink Lead for our planning, and planning today was almost as complex as our workspace!
On the first sol of the plan, Curiosity begins with a lot of imaging. We begin with the first of a series of change detection images on two sand targets (“Ten Lakes” and “Walker Lake”) so that we can characterize the current wind conditions. Then, ChemCam is doing a LIBS mosaic on Rodgers Pass, which is a target on Whitebark Pass. ChemCam also takes a passive mosaic on “Devils Postpile,” which is a another light-toned rock that we can compare to the similar-looking white rocks right in front of us, and a mosaic on the bright white stone field that is about 40m northwest of us. Mastcam takes large mosaics on Recess Peak, Devils Postpile, Whitebark Pass, and the white stones, before doing another round of the change detection images. After a nap, Curiosity wakes up to do a mid-afternoon set of change detection images before going back to sleep.
After the nap, Curiosity wakes up and does a set of late-afternoon change detection images before starting our contact science. This workspace is highly complex, making it challenging to get to all of the interesting science targets, but the Rover Planners managed to get it all into the plan. First, the DRT is used to brush the Grass Lakes target before we take a suite of MAHLI images on it. Next is a suite of images on the “Snow Lakes” target, which is another white rock in our workspace. On Snow Lakes we are investigating three different spots at 5cm above the rock to look at variation within it. Throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening, the rover will wake up to move the APXS to cover all of the contact science targets, Grass Lakes and the 3 spots on Snow Lakes.
Before handing over to the next sol’s plan, we do two more early morning change detection observations. On the second sol of the plan, we do additional imaging. ChemCam takes a LIBS mosaic of Rodgers Pass and a passive mosaic of “Gem Lakes,” another target on the Whitebark Pass block. After some Navcam atmospheric observations, a dust devil survey and deck monitoring, Mastcam follows up with an image of Rodgers Pass and another set of change detection images.
After the imaging is complete, we do a short forward drive to get more of the Whitebark Pass block into our workspace for additional contact science and evaluation as a potential drilling target. After the drive we will unstow the arm to get a better view of the new workspace as well as to save time in our next plan. After a bit of a nap, there is a MARDI image and Curiosity will go back to sleep.
On the last sol of the plan, Curiosity uses AEGIS to autonomously observe targets on Whitebark Pass after the drive. There are also some additional atmospheric images with Navcam, including a dust devil survey and suprahorizon movie. Just before handing over to Monday’s plan is a set of morning atmospheric observations, including a Mastcam solar tau, and Navcam zenith and suprahorizon movies.
Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Last Updated Jun 07, 2024 Related Terms
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