APXS
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NASA
Sols 4368-4369: The Colors of Fall – and Mars
Earth planning date: Monday, Nov. 18, 2024 I am in the U.K., where we are approaching the time when trees are just branches and twigs. One tree that still has its full foliage is my little quince tree in my front garden. Its leaves have turned reddish-brown with a hint of orange, fairly dark by now, and when I passed…
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NASA
Sols 4366–4367: One of Those Days on Mars (Sulfate-Bearing Unit to the West of Upper Gediz Vallis)
Earth planning date: Friday, Nov. 15, 2024 The Monday plan and drive had executed successfully, so the team had high hopes for APXS and MAHLI data on several enticing targets in the rover’s workspace. Alas, it was not to be: The challenging terrain had resulted in an awkwardly perched wheel at the end of the drive, so we couldn’t risk deploying the…
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NASA
Sols 4350-4351: A Whole Team Effort
Earth planning date: Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024 Just like you and me, the Curiosity rover has a few idiosyncratic tendencies — special ways that the rover behaves that we, the team on Earth, have come to understand to be harmless but still throw a curveball to our planning. Unfortunately, the set of activities that were planned to execute on Monday…
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NASA
Sols 4321-4322: Sailing Out of Gediz Vallis
Earth planning date: Monday, Sept. 30, 2024 For the past few plans, Curiosity has been wrapping up its science campaign within Gediz Vallis. Over the weekend, the rover completed analyses on white stones encountered while departing the channel, before continuing along the western margin of Gediz Vallis. As we exit the channel, a metaphorical red buoy to our left, uncharted terrain lay…
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NASA
Sols 4318-4320: One Last Weekend in the Channel
Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 We’re wrapping up our time in the channel with the highly anticipated examination of the “Sheep Creek” white stones. Last plan’s reposition was a success, so we are able to go ahead with contact science on them this weekend. MAHLI and APXS picked three targets to investigate: “Cloud Canyon,” “Moonlight Lake,” and “Angora Mountain,” all…
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NASA
Sols 4277-4279: Getting Ready To Say Goodbye to the King!
Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 16, 2024 It’s time to move on from our “Kings Canyon” drill site, so today’s plan focused on our usual tidy up routine after a drill campaign. First we need to dump out any material in the drill chambers, in an action called “RAGE” – this sounds aggressive but stands for “Rotation to Agitate Granules…
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NASA
Sols 4259-4260: Kings Canyon Go Again!
Earth planning date: Monday, July 29, 2024 Our weekend drill preload test on the target “Kings Canyon” (shown in the accompanying MAHLI image) didn’t give us the full range of data we need to move forward with the full drilling process. This coming Wednesday, we hope to rerun our preload test on Kings Canyon or somewhere very similar on the same…
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