“Mont Mercou”, as seen by the left navigation camera aboard NASA’s Curiosity rover on Sol 3074. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech. Download image ›
Sol 3081 will be a busy one for Curiosity. The rover is still close to the transition between the Glasgow member and the sulphate carrier; as this is a major geological transition, the scientific team is trying to get as much data as possible before it moves away.
First of all, the rover intends to make a “touch-and-go”, making the contact and the remote science targeted before leaving. First, Curiosity will do some arm exercises, making APXS and MALHI remarks about “Puymangou”, a dark spot on a rock slab in front of the rover. Science will test whether the color difference is a difference in composition from the nearby bedrock. For Rover Planners (of which I am one today), this is a challenging target, as it is small and slightly elevated relative to the surrounding parts of the rock. We must also avoid nearby sand pockets caught in the roughness of the rock surface. After the arm activities, Curiosity will arrange the arm to prepare for the ride.
Before fleeing, there is a set of scientific observations targeted with Mastcam. In addition to a small 3×3 mosaic of contact science target, we will take a large stereo mosaic of “Mont Mercou” from the southwest to get more views of the sedimentary structures of the ridge. In addition to all the images we took from other locations around Mont Mercou, this latest set will allow us to build a complete 3D model of it. At the same time pre-drive, ChemCam will also make a passive observation of the sky as part of our environmental suite.
Then, we say goodbye to Mont Mercou and start our journey, about 30 meters to the south-southwest. The terrain in this area is quite rocky at the same time and has sand spots, offering another challenge for Rover Planners. Curiosity will revolve around sharper cliffs and larger sand spots to land on a high point that should provide a good view for planning the next unit, as well as landing on some bedrock to allows contact science in the weekend plan. Rover planners (and Curiosity wheels) are certainly looking forward to being further south, where the terrain is more benign and our units will no longer need to look like a slalom track.
After the unit, we will take some pictures to support the next unit, as well as some additional ChemCam observations of the sky and its calibration objectives to continue to monitor the condition of the instrument. Just around sunset, we will make another set of cloud observations with Mastcam and Navcam hoping to get another spectacular picture of the Martian cloudy sky and a TUESDAY picture of the ground beneath the rover. Finally, early the next morning we will make some observations on the environment, including a film with the dust devil and a film above the horizon.
On the second floor of the plane, we make more atmospheric observations of the sun, the horizon, more movies with the dust devil, as well as some twilight Mastcam images.