Written by Lauren Edgar, Planetary Geologist at Usgs Astrogeology Science Center
Earth Planning Date: Monday, Feb. 24, 2025
Over the weekend curiosity drave about 48 meters (About 157 Feet) to the Southwest, Continuing to March Along On our Travese Past Texoli Butte and Gold Mesa. I was on shift as the ltp today, and it was great to see the Good Drive Progress, Interesting Workspace, and Exciting Straigraphy that lies ahead.
Today's Two-Sol Plan Includes Contact Science and A Drive on the First Sol, Followed by untargeted remote sensing on the second sol. The Geology Theme Group Got Straight to Work Evaluating Contact Science Targets, and Decided on a Nodular Block Named “Matilija Poppy” for Apxs and Mahli Observations. Then the team turned their Attention to the Remote Sensing Activities. There are a variety of interesting Rock textures near the river, so the team spent some time planning mastcam imaging and chemcam libs activities to assess the diversity. Some Blocks Have Polygonal Fractures With Ridges, While Other Blocks are more Nodular or Well-Laminated. In addition to looking at the bedrock, mastcam will document local troughs in the loose sand between blocks, to understand more recent surface processes. The team planned a Chemcam Libs observation on one of the polygonal fractures at a target named “East Fork” and two long-distance chemcam RMI Mosaics of Gold Mesa to Assess the data Then Curiosity will drive about 30 meters (About 98 Feet) Further to the south, and take post-drive imaging to prepare for Wednsday's plan.
On the second sol curiosity will take an autonomously selected chemcam target, along with multiple environmental monitoring observations to search for dust devils, monitoring for dust devils, and evaluation Clouds. It was a pretty smooth day of planning, and it's always nice to see how the team works togeether to accept a lot of great science. Looking forward to continuing to make great progress as we start climbing uphill Again!
