Earth planning date: Friday, December 1, 2023

We have a three-sol plan today packed with many MAHLI observations! MAHLI will acquire images of the "Sequoia" drill hole, drill hole tailings, CheMin inlet, and the REMS UV sensor. APXS has a second measurement of the "Sequoia" drill tailings, offset slightly from the first tailings measurement made on Sol 4024. The plan also includes many atmospheric activities and targeted science observations.

The first sol of the plan is focused on MAHLI and APXS observations of the drill hole and drill tailings. ChemCam has a LIBS observation of "Corn Lily" (a smoother part of a block of bedrock) and a long-distance mosaic of the Kukenan butte. Mastcam will execute a diagnostic activity for the M34 filter wheel, document "Corn Lily," and perform the first of several change detection activities planned this weekend on targets "Sequoia" and "Aspendell." These change detection experiments are part of an ongoing effort to assess changes in the drill tailings and regolith near the drill hole. Navcam has a line-of-sight observation to measure the optical depth of the atmosphere and investigate the scattering properties of aerosols, followed by a dust devil movie to round out the first science block of the plan. At night, MAHLI will also image the CheMin inlet.

The second sol of the plan includes another targeted science block with a Mastcam solar tau, imagery to expand documentation of the "Sequoia" workspace, and two more changes detection observations of "Sequoia" and "Aspendell." ChemCam has an observation of a flaky piece of a vein (target "Big Pine"), and Navcam has another line-of-sight observation and suprahorizon movie. Next up, MAHLI will image the REMS UV sensor and the "Sequoia" drill tailings once more. Overnight, APXS will collect atmospheric data for about 8 hours.

On the third and final sol of the plan, ChemCam has an observation of "Bullfrog Lake" (a very light-toned bedrock target), another long-distance mosaic of the Kukenan butte, and a passive sky observation. Mastcam has another couple of solar taus, two more change detection observations that will conclude an ~25-sol experiment, and activities to document "Big Pine" and "Bullfrog Lake." Later, Navcam has a sky flats observation, a line-of-sight observation, a zenith movie, a suprahorizon movie, and a sky survey. On Monday, Curiosity is expected to drive away from the "Sequoia" drill site – the first drive in about 50 sols!

Earth planning date: Monday, December 4, 2023

It is not unusual for things to not quite go according to plan when commanding a robotic rover more than 370,000,000 km (233,000,000 miles) away on Mars. Today was one of those days. Our planned weekend activities, including finishing up analyses of the Sequoia drill hole and fines, did not make it onboard Curiosity. However, the team is used to responding to such situations, and the first order of business was to decide whether we should stay or go. One of the activities that should have occurred over the weekend was an additional APXS and MAHLI analysis of the powdered material surrounding the Sequoia drill hole. The APXS chemistry of the fines is used to refine and aid with interpretation of the CheMin mineralogy and SAM analyses of the drill fines delivered to those internal laboratory instruments. The team needed to decide whether to stay and recover this measurement, or if we were comfortable with the data that came down over the weekend from an APXS analysis of the Sequoia drill fines last week, and to drive away. As a member of the APXS team, I helped to assess that downlinked APXS data, and convey to the science team that the received data was sufficient and of high enough quality to not warrant staying here for another planning cycle.

Although the decision was made to drive away, the plan was jam packed with activities recovered from the weekend plan, even squeezing in an additional short APXS analysis of the Sequoia drill tailings. These included Mastcam images to look for wind movement of the drilled sample and soil/sand, and to extend the colour imaging of the terrain surrounding the Sequoia drill hole. We are also recovering close-up MAHLI imaging of the Sequoia drill hole and surrounding, powdered fines. ChemCam will utilize their long-distance remote imaging capabilities to continue investigating the layering and structure within the nearby Kukenan butte, and to aid in determining how the stratigraphy fits with the rocks we are driving over.

After our first drive in 54 sols (because of the drill campaign and conjunction) a number of additional activities are planned. The terrain immediately beneath the rover will be documented with a MARDI image, and the new workspace imaged with Mastcam as well as our engineering cameras. ChemCam will fire its laser at an area of bedrock selected using its onboard, autonomous software (AEGIS), giving us a head-start at investigating the chemistry of the new workspace. The environmental team will also recover some of their desired weekend observations in this plan. Paired ChemCam passive and APXS atmospheric activities are planned to monitor seasonal changes in Mars atmosphere, as well as Mastcam tau and Navcam Sky Flats observations. Standard REMS, DAN and RAD activities round out this plan. The team is excited to hopefully find Curiosity parked at a new location when we resume planning.

Earth planning date: Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Mars has just emerged from its solar conjunction period, when sending commands to all Mars spacecraft was not safe for three weeks since the Red Planet was behind the Sun as seen from Earth. During that time, Curiosity followed a long plan of instructions covering Sols 4004-4022 which were uploaded to the rover during the week of October 30. The early word on is that the rover weathered the long blackout period just fine. Still parked at the Sequoia 2 drill site, the rover performed atmospheric imaging with its engineering cameras and took argon measurements with APXS during conjunction. Data is still trickling in from the conjunction period. While Mars was on the far side of the Sun, Curiosity had been relaying its science and engineering data to satellites in orbit around Mars. However, while Mars was still close to the Sun last weekend, some of the data reaching Earth from those relay satellites was "spotty," or missing some packets of information, due to radio interference from the Sun. For image data, this looks like gaps in the images. As Mars moves away from the Sun, we will get retransmissions of the data and fill in the gaps.

For the next two sols, Curiosity will do more observations of the ground and sky near the Sequoia drill site. Many atmospheric observations have been planned, including an afternoon Navcam phase function sky survey, Navcam cloud altitude movie on the afternoon and early morning, and a Navcam dust devil survey, suprahorizon images, and measurements of atmospheric dust opacity by Navcam and Mastcam on the afternoon of Sol 4024. Mastcam will be expanding its photography of the workspace near the rover with a 19x3 mosaic. There will also be another set of diagnostics performed on the Mastcam filter wheel. Mastcam will be returning to both the Sequoia drill hole and the "Aspendell" target on each sol to look for changes over time. APXS will join in the change detection observations as with a proximity mode "hover" over the Sequoia drill hole. ChemCam will be looking at new targets this plan. The long distance RMI camera will look back at the stratigraphic transition between the upper and lower levels of the Gedis Vallis Ridge. ChemCam will turn its laser to a target named for the "Cobra Turret" in Kings Canyon National Park. The "Cobra Turret" 5x1 observation samples a bedrock face riddled with dark colored nodules. Its namesake is a peak with vertical rock walls on the South wall of Tehipite Valley along the Middle Fork Kings River. Like the earlier "Fang Turret" ChemCam target from sol 3991, "Cobra Turret" is a feature of "Gorge of Despair." Mastcam will take also an image of "Cobra Turret" to document the ChemCam observation. A ChemCam 10x1 passive observation will be taken of the “Brittle Bush” target, an area of bedrock broken by the rover as it rolled by. The "Brittle Bush" target is the notch and broken piece of rock shown in the upper right of the attached Mastcam image from Sol 4001. Brittlebush is one of the most common and lovely plant species that make up the sagebrush biome covering the Owens Valley near Bishop, CA. All geologic targets in this area of Mount Sharp have been designated names from the Bishop geologic quadrangle.

Wednesday’s plan will complete Drill Sol 6 with the "RAGE" procedure to remove remaining material from the drill. Going forward, Curiosity will finish up the campaign with Drill Sol 7 on Friday and do targeted science over the weekend. We expect to finally drive away from Sequoia on Monday. Hopefully, we will have caught up with the downlink of all conjunction data by the time Curiosity moves on in its journey.

Earth planning date: Monday, November 6, 2023

It is a time of milestones for Curiosity, with the passage of Sol 4000 over the weekend (celebrated here and here) and the start of her sixth solar conjunction this week. Each time Curiosity (and Mars) slip on the other side of the Sun from Earth, the science and engineering teams miss her and the new discoveries she makes every sol. I dare say we also miss each other, the people that have (mostly virtually) gathered week in and week out for 11 years to make those discoveries possible. This blog is usually a celebration of what Curiosity planned on Mars each day, but let’s turn the tables and celebrate at least a small part of the team that makes it all possible. How does the magic happen?

Each day we come together to build a plan, we start with strategic guidance from our long term planners like Sanjeev and John who make sure we keep our big picture goals and targets in mind. We get tactical guidance from science leads like Aileen and Scott and operations leads like Elena and Nicky so that we all have the key constraints on planning for a particular day. It is up to the geology and environmental theme leads like Susanne, Jeff, Alex, and Michael to lead the science team members in attendance to build plans that, to the best of their abilities, encompass all the observations of interest on a particular sol within the constraints of that particular plan. The theme leads work hand-in-hand with the "keepers of the plan" like Ryan and Becky who capture all the details of the observations of interest — from start times, to duration, to data volume, to numbers of images — that are essential to making sure everything fits in the plan.

Identifying and vetting contact science targets for APXS and MAHLI is typically the first order of business for the geology theme group. Lucy and Cat from APXS use their eagle eyes to pick targets of interest, and rover planners like Aaron and Emily are in charge of figuring out if a particular target can be reached by the arm. If a target is too challenging, it is up to science-RP mediators like Bill and Bob to iterate between science and engineering to find targets that APXS and MAHLI can reach and which meet the science team’s goals. Once targets are decided on, it is up to Deirdra and David from MAHLI to design imaging sequences that capture the targets in perfect focus and lighting. On days where we also drive, surface property scientists like Cathy and Ron work with the rover planners to identify safe and efficient routes for Curiosity to traverse.

After contact science planning is in the works, it is time to plan remote science. Do you enjoy the spectacular, sweeping vistas of Gale crater as captured by Mastcam? Thank folks like Tex and Tim, who work overtime fitting in the team’s requests to image no shortage of fascinating features at each stop. They also work with the MAHLI team to see the planning of MARDI images through a given sol. Whether it is Amaury and Valerie in France, or Patrick and Margie in New Mexico, the ChemCam crew must not only identify and target interesting features to shoot with the laser, but targets near and far to image with the RMI, and sometimes even the sky for measurements of Martian atmospheric chemistry. Doug and Kevin help plan ECAM images for a wide variety of purposes. Practically, the rover planners use ECAM images to plan drives and establish rover stability, while the science team uses them to identify and select targets. Scientifically, ECAM images are the go-to tool of the environmental theme group for images and movies of clouds and dust devils.

While most of our contact and remote observations are specific to the parking spot on a given sol, REMS and RAD observations care less about "where" than "when." Sofia and Jorge from REMS, and Bent and Cary from RAD work with the environmental theme group to make sure their instruments take measurements at regular intervals - sol in and sol out - to produce unbroken records of the Martian environment. DAN cares about both “where” and "when," so DAN team members like Denis and David make sure DAN actively pings the subsurface in back of the rover as soon as we arrive at a new parking spot, and then subsequently gathers passive data as we sit for contact and remote science.

CheMin and SAM use are not a daily (or even weekly!) occurrence, but when it is time to collect a drill sample or measure methane in the atmosphere, their teams stand at the ready. CheMin team members like Liz and Patricia and SAM team members like Jean-Yves and Christine make sure that their instruments are ready to receive sample, and then work with their teams to analyze the data as quickly as possible to reveal to the whole science team what Martian secrets have been revealed.

As you can see, it takes an amazing, dedicated team of people — only a small handful who I could highlight! — to make one sol of Curiosity observations a reality. If the people above are the engine that makes Curiosity go, then the fuel is our project science leaders, Ashwin and Abigail. They lead by example, often serving in many of the roles listed above, and form this diverse group of scientists and engineers with many ambitions into one team with one goal: moving ever-forward to new discoveries. Come back at the end of this month to see where we take Curiosity next!

Earth planning date: Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Today we begin the final countdown into Mars solar conjunction (when Mars is effectively on the other side of the sun and we can’t reliably communicate with Curiosity) – only two more planning sessions after today. In these final days before conjunction, we begin reducing the types of activities we allow in our plans because we do not want to risk having a fault that we do not have time to address. This plan would be our last chance to do full contact science, but since we have sample in the drill we actually can’t point other instruments at the ground. We also don’t have a lot of power to play with, as Curiosity is still recovering from the SAM analysis we did in the prior plan. As a result, our drill campaign is now on hold and we are focusing on imaging today.

On the first sol of our two-sol plan we have about an hour of imaging, beginning with a Navcam image of the open SAM inlet cover. We do this after each sample drop-off to make sure we don’t see a lot of spilled sample around the inlet. We couldn’t do this after the drop-off in the last plan because it was too late to get good lighting. After that, Mastcam is doing some additional testing on the filter wheel and taking a 10x6 mosaic of the Sequoia workspace. Next, ChemCam is taking a 5-spot mosaic of “Aperture Peak,” which is a ridge that appears to be made of vein material. After a nap, we kick of a SAM monthly maintenance activity.

The next morning, Curiosity wakes up for some additional imaging. The morning activities include several atmospheric observations, looking for dust and clouds that might for this time of year. This includes a Mastcam solar tau, Navcam suprahorizon movie and a large Navcam dust devil survey. ChemCam also takes two long-distance mosaics, a 10-frame one looking up hill at the upper Gediz Vallis Ridge and a 7-frame one looking across the crater at the Peace Vallis channel near the crater wall. Mastcam finishes up the morning block by imaging “Bench Lake,” which is a bedrock feature with a distinctive texture and taking a post-ChemCam look at Aperture Peak. After a long nap, Curiosity wakes up for some late afternoon observations including a set of Navcam sky flats (looking for dust features on the lenses) and a set of twilight movies looking for clouds. While we did not get any new images from the last plan, this image of the crater rim is similar to the one in today’s plan and we’ll be able to compare to see how the dust in the atmosphere is changing.

Earth planning date: Friday, November 3, 2023

Today we reached an exciting milestone on Mars, with the planning of our 4000th sol of exploration with the Curiosity rover (covering almost 11 years and 3 months)! In addition to the milestone, Curiosity has had a very busy and productive week on Mars as we wrap up the drill campaign at Sequoia and prepare for solar conjunction next week. During solar conjunction, Mars will be on the opposite side of the Sun from the Earth, meaning that after Monday we won’t be able to communicate with the rover for the next few weeks.

I was on shift as LTP today, and at first I thought our 3-sol plan might be relatively light because we’re starting to limit the use of different instruments to ensure everything is in a safe state for conjunction. However, we had a lot of power available for science activities in this plan, so the team planned a jam-packed weekend of observations, including nearly 6 hours of remote sensing! On the first sol, Curiosity will acquire a ChemCam LIBS observation on a target named “Ionian Basin” and a ChemCam passive observation on “Inconsolable Range” to investigate the chemical diversity of rocks near the drill hole. Mastcam will also take a large mosaic to provide additional context and to document the layering and diagenetic features in the area. The plan also includes multiple Mastcam change detection activities to monitor the movement of fines near the drill hole and in the surrounding sand. The ENV theme group planned several Navcam activities to search for dust devils and monitor dust in the atmosphere. On the second sol Curiosity will acquire another ChemCam LIBS observation on a target named “Sphinx Crest” to assess the chemistry of a dark block among the lighter toned bedrock. Two long distance ChemCam RMI mosaics are planned to assess a dark resistant bed in the Kukenan butte, and to look back in the direction of Peace Vallis to assess the distant stratigraphy and geomorphology. The third sol includes a Navcam cloud altitude observation, Navcam zenith movie to monitor clouds, and Mastcam tau to assess atmospheric opacity. Throughout the plan there are also numerous twilight cloud observations.

It makes me smile to think of Curiosity sitting there on sol 4000, peacefully watching the clouds roll by in Gale crater, and reflecting on an impressive record of exploration. The Navcam image above looks back towards the northern crater rim, across the plains of Aeolis Palus that we traversed many years ago. From our vantage point on Mount Sharp, we have quite a lot to look back on, and a lot of exciting discoveries that lie ahead. Happy sol 4000!

Earth planning date: Monday, October 30, 2023

Mondays are scary enough, so the team was extra spooked when the morning's downlink showed our incoming power state as lower than what we planned. Ghosts of Mars? (A movie I recommend, by the way) Maybe… but if our rover was in a scary movie she’d be the last one standing. And so our team began a willowy plan this Hallows' Eve to continue on our Drill Sol path and recharge our batteries before any other unearthly forces could strike again.

We’re starting this plan with another Mastcam Left filter wheel recovery attempt, this time trying to drive the motor in the opposite direction as Friday. The curse on our filter wheel motor has persisted for over a month but we still have some tricks and treats up our sleeves. Then, like the monster under your bed, our rover will sleep all day and wake up at night to begin preparing for the power-hungry SAM analysis of the Sequoia drill sample later this plan. Preparation includes a SAM "column clean" to burn up any contaminants, and another long nap most of the next sol. On the second sol, the arm will drop off the Sequoia sample to SAM in the afternoon and begin the SAM GCMS (Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer, used to detect C-bearing molecules) around midnight. We’re not including any remote science activities this plan for power purposes, but the team is well prepared for Wednesday and Friday when more resources may be available. Stay alive, friends, and don’t take candy from haunted houses!

Earth planning date: Friday, October 27, 2023

The Curiosity rover team has been preparing for the start of the Solar Conjunction in November, when contact with all Mars spacecraft will be impossible for three weeks since Mars will be behind the Sun as seen from Earth. During that time, Curiosity will be following a long plan of instructions which were confirmed to have been successfully uploaded to the rover earlier this week. For now, Curiosity is finishing up its Sequoia drill campaign. A top science priority for the sol 3991 to 3993 weekend plan is for the CheMin instrument to dump its sample on sol 3991. Fine rock powder will leave the sampling tube more cleanly now than if we wait until after the conjunction when it might have adhered to the glass during the many temperature cycles in the intervening weeks. The team would like to reuse this tube. In addition, Curiosity will also be returning the data from its second CheMin analysis. There will also be another set of diagnostics performed on the Mastcam filter wheel.

Also on tap this weekend are five science blocks chock full of observations of the terrain and sky around the Sequoia drill site. Many atmospheric observations have been planned, including multiple Navcam dust devil movies, measurements of atmospheric dust opacity by Navcam and Mastcam, Navcam cloud altitude movies, ChemCam passive sky observation, and both evening and morning Navcam phase function sky surveys. Some of the cloud movies taken recently have been spectacular, so we hope to catch some more clouds and/or dust in action. APXS will join in as well with a measurement of atmospheric argon. Mastcam will be expanding its photography of the workspace near the rover with an 11x5 mosaic. Mastcam is also returning to both the Sequoia drill hole and the “Aspendell” target to look for changes over time, and it will be revisiting the “Brainard Lake” target in the morning to sample different lighting of the rocks. ChemCam will be especially busy this plan. Its long distance RMI camera will complete a large mosaic on the Peace Vallis ancient river valley far across Gale Crater, taking advantage of our current clear weather on Mars. Another RMI telescopic pointing will map layers in the cliffs of Kukenan high above the rover. ChemCam will turn its laser to analyze three targets named for features in Kings Canyon National Park: “Cedar Grove,” “Dusy Basin,” and “Fang Turret.” All geologic targets in this area of Mount Sharp have been designated names from the Bishop geologic quadrangle located in the Sierra Nevada of California, especially beloved by Caltech geologists. “Cedar Grove” is an area of local bedrock with many nodular concretions formed in water and named for the famous campground area along the South Fork of the Kings River. “Dusy Basin” will sample a highly layered bedrock with a name honoring a magnificent high alpine lake basin just east of Bishop Pass in the Sierra. Finally, the “Fang Turret” observation will punch a line of laser pits across the face of a vertically projecting dark colored fin, as seen in the attached Mastcam image from Sol 3979. Its namesake is an immensely difficult to climb “Class 6” rock tower on the South wall of Tehipite Valley in the spectacular roadless canyon of the Middle Fork Kings River. This tower rises 100 vertical feet above the 10,000 ft ridgeline of “Gorge of Despair”. Rock climbers give great names to their favorite features!

In Wednesday’s sol 3989 to 3990 plan, SAM received another sample from the drill. Based on what the initial SAM results show, SAM may do a more detailed chemical analysis next week before the team starts restricting activities in preparation for the Solar Conjunction. Our last planning session before the conjunction will be on Monday, November 6, and we will resume communications with Curiosity in time for a planning session on November 29.

Today, the MSL team picked back up with our plan to drop off a sample of rock powder drilled from Sequoia to the SAM instrument using our robotic arm. Normally, after drilling when we want to deliver sample to SAM for analysis, we first do “preconditioning” checks; essentially, to ensure SAM is in a good working state to receive the sample. Over the past weekend, when a 3-sol plan was sent to the rover, we planned for the preconditioning to happen on one of the sols. Unfortunately, the preconditioning didn’t pass all its checks, so we had to postpone the drop-off that was originally planned for Monday. However, this week we’ve had a second shot at things. On Monday, we ran SAM preconditioning again, which passed successfully this time! On the first sol of our plan, we’ll finally get to deliver our sample to SAM for analysis. The photo above is of the body of the rover – you can see two inlet covers for SAM in front, and one for the CheMin instrument at the back. These covers open and close as we deliver sample to the instruments using the robotic arm.

We’re always excited to execute a new solid sample analysis activity. This activity involves a pyrolysis measurement where we heat the sample up to near 1000 degrees Celsius, and the resulting gas is analyzed for composition. On this sol, we’ll also have a block of science activities, which include optical depth measurements using Mastcam and LIBS observations of our “Dragon Tooth” target using ChemCam. On the second and final sol of the plan, we will run another science block, which includes NCAM dust devil and cloud movies, multiple Mastcam observations, and another LIBS observation of “The Sphinx” target using ChemCam.

As part of this plan, we are also sending up conjunction plans to the rover. Conjunction is a period of time where Mars, the Sun, and the Earth are all in alignment – but because the Sun is blocking Mars from us, we can’t actually communicate with any of our Mars missions at all! This year, conjunction will occur for several weeks during November. Our team builds plans to keep the rover safe and productive by itself while we’re waiting for communication to resume, which were uplinked onboard the rover as part of today’s plan. Though we aren’t quite into conjunction yet, it’s always best to be prepared!

Earth planning date: Monday, October 23, 2023

Over the weekend, the activity to prepare SAM to receive and analyze the "Sequoia" drill sample did not quite go as planned, so we had to rearrange today’s plan, and those of the rest of the week, to retry it. Part of that schedule rearrangement involved moving up a second CheMin analysis of Sequoia and rescheduling the SAM analysis later in the week. The instruments basically swapped their time slots to keep us moving efficiently forward to conjunction, which starts in just over two weeks and over which we cannot command the rover.

The rest of our science activities were short and sweet, to conserve power for SAM and CheMin. We added to our collection of ChemCam analyses around the rover, targeting a bedrock block just to the right of the workspace and a long, thin blade of material sticking out of that bedrock block. It will be interesting to see if the chemistry of the two targets varies and can give us an idea of why the material sticking out of the block is more resistant to erosion. The pair (or should I say "pear") of targets was named "Pear Lake" and "Pearl Lake." ChemCam also planned a long distance RMI mosaic across tens of kilometers toward Peace Vallis in the Gale Crater rim.

Mastcam kept it simple in today’s plan, with documentation of the ChemCam targets and two change detection images looking for wind-induced changes in the sand and fines in and around the workspace. One target was the Sequoia drill hole, with its pile of fine-grained tailings in and around the drill hole, and the other target was a patch of small ripples bordering one of the workspace bedrock slabs, dubbed "Aspendell."