Gediz Vallis
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NASA
Sols 4471-4472: Marching Through the Canyon
Written by Scott VanBommel, Planetary Scientist at Washington University Earth planning date: Monday, March 3, 2025 Curiosity continued steady progress through the upper sulfate unit and toward its next major science waypoint: the boxwork structures. Our rover is currently driving south through a local canyon between “Texoli” and “Gould Mesa.” This route may expose the same rock layers observed while climbing…
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NASA
Sols 4384-4385: Leaving the Bishop Quad
Earth planning date: Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024 As the Curiosity rover climbs west toward the broad saddle separating Gediz Vallis from its neighboring canyon on the slopes of Mount Sharp, the rover is also approaching the edge of its current geological quadrangle or “quad” map on Mars. The current quad, designated “Bishop,” has meant that all of the targets studied…
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NASA
Sols 4359-4361: The Perfect Road Trip Destination For Any Rover!
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…
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NASA
Sols 4357–4358: Turning West
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…
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NASA
Sols 4343-4344: Late Slide, Late Changes
Earth planning date: Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024 Curiosity is driving along the western edge of the Gediz Vallis channel, heading for a good vantage point before turning westward and leaving the channel behind to explore the canyons beyond. The contact science for “Chuck Pass” on sol 4341 and backwards 30-meter drive (about 98 feet) on sol 4342 completed successfully. This…
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NASA
Sols 4336-4337: Where the Streets Have No Name
Earth planning date: Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024 Curiosity continues to drive along the western edge of the upper Gediz Vallis channel. After exiting the channel a few weeks ago, we turned north to image the “back side” of the deposits that we investigated on the eastern side before the channel crossing. As a member of the Channel Surfers working group, we believe…
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NASA
Sols 4323-4324: Surfin’ Our Way out of the Channel
Earth planning date: Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024 As a member of the group tasked with organizing our campaign to investigate the Gediz Vallis channel and deposit (informally known as the Channel Surfers), I was a little sad this morning to see that our drive had successfully taken us out of the channel, back onto the magnesium sulfate-bearing unit, into which…
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NASA
Sols 4307-4308: Bright Rocks Catch Our Eyes
Earth planning date: Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 We made good progress through Gediz Vallis in the weekend drive, landing in a segment of the channel containing a mix of loose rubble and other channel-filling debris. Amongst the jumbled scene, though, particular objects of interest caught our eye: bright rocks. In past workspaces in Gediz Vallis, similar bright rocks have been…
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NASA
Sols 4302-4303: West Side of Upper Gediz Vallis, From Tungsten Hills to the Next Rocky Waypoint
Earth planning date: Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024 The rover is on its way from the Tungsten Hills site to the next priority site for Gediz Vallis channel exploration, in which we plan to get in close enough for arm science to one of the numerous large dark-toned “float” blocks in the channel and also to one of the light-toned slabs.…
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NASA
Sols 4300-4301: Rippled Pages
Earth planning date: Monday, Sept. 9, 2024 With today’s plan, Curiosity completes its most southerly planned exploration of the Gediz Vallis channel. From here, our rover will head north and climb out of the channel to explore terrain to the west. Our planned drive to the “Tungsten Hills” rocks, named for a famous mining district near Bishop, California, completed successfully…
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