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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 4 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4593-4594: Three Layers and a Lot of Structure at Volcán Peña Blanca
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) to acquire this image showing a part of Volcán Peña Blanca from about 10 meters away (about 33 feet). It is already possible to see the different layers and make out that some of them are parallel, while others are at an angle. Curiosity acquired this image on July 6, 2025 — Sol 4591, or Martian day 4,591 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 10:13:13 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Written by Susanne P. Schwenzer, Professor of Planetary Mineralogy at The Open University, UK
Earth planning date: Monday, July 7, 2025
A few planning sols ago, we spotted a small ridge in the landscape ahead of us. Ridges and structures that are prominently raised above the landscape are our main target along this part of Curiosity’s traverse. There are many hypotheses on how they formed, and water is one of the likely culprits involved. That is because water reacts with the original minerals, moves the compounds around and some precipitate as minerals in the pore spaces, which is called “cement” by sedimentologists, and generally known as one mechanism to make a rock harder. It’s not the only one, so the Curiosity science team is after all the details at this time to assess whether water indeed was responsible for the more resistant nature of the ridges. Spotting one that is so clearly raised prominently above the landscape — and in easy reach of the rover, both from the distance but also from the path that leads up to it — was therefore very exciting. In addition, the fact that we get a side view of the structure as well as a top view adds to the team’s ability to read the geologic record of this area. “Outcrops,” as we call those places, are one of the most important tools for any field geologist, including Curiosity and team!
Therefore, the penultimate drive stopped about 10 meters away (about 33 feet) from the structure to get a good assessment of where exactly to direct the rover (see the blog post by my colleague Abby). You can see an example of the images Curiosity took with its Mast Camera above; if you want to see them all, they are on the raw images page (and by the time you go, there may be even more images that we took in today’s plan.
With all the information from the last parking spot, the rover drivers parked Curiosity in perfect operating distance for all instruments. In direct view of the rover was a part of Volcán Peña Blanca that shows several units; this blogger counts at least three — but I am a mineralogist, not a sedimentologist! I am really looking forward to the chemical data we will get in this plan. My sedimentologist colleagues found the different angles of smaller layers in the three bigger layers especially interesting, and will look at the high-resolution images from the MAHLI instrument very closely.
With all that in front of us, Curiosity has a very full plan. APXS will get two measurements, the target “Parinacota” is on the upper part of the outcrop and we can even clean it from the dust with the brush, aka DRT. MAHLI will get close-up images to see finer structures and maybe even individual grains. The second APXS target, called “Wila Willki,” is located in the middle part of the outcrop and will also be documented by MAHLI. The third activity of MAHLI will be a so-called dog’s-eye view of the outcrop. For this, the arm reaches very low down to align MAHLI to directly face the outcrop, to get a view of the structures and even a peek underneath some of the protruding ledges. The team is excitedly anticipating the arrival of those images. Stay tuned; you can also find them in the raw images section as soon as we have them!
ChemCam is joining in with two LIBS targets — the target “Pichu Pichu” is on the upper part of the outcrop, and the target “Tacume” is on the middle part. After this much of close up looks, ChemCam is pointing the RMI to the mid-field to look at another of the raised features in more detail and into the far distance to see the upper contact of the boxwork unit with the next unit above it. Mastcam will first join the close up looks and take a large mosaic to document all the details of Volcán Peña Blanca, and to document the LIBS targets, before looking into the distance at two places where we see small troughs around exposed bedrock.
Of course, there are also atmospheric observations in the plan; it’s aphelion cloud season and dust is always of interest. The latter is regularly monitored by atmosphere opacity experiments, and we keep searching for dust devils to understand where, how and why they form and how they move. Curiosity will be busy, and we are very much looking forward to understanding this interesting feature, which is one piece of the puzzle to understand this area we call the boxwork area.
For more Curiosity blog posts, visit MSL Mission Updates
Learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments
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Last Updated Jul 10, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home Navcam view of the ~3 ft high ridge that marks the eastern side of Volcán Peña Blanca. The ridge is currently about 35 ft away from the rover, and the team used images like this during today’s planning to decide the exact location for Curiosity’s approach. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Abigail Fraeman, Deputy Project Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Earth planning date: Thursday, July 3, 2025
The team was delighted this morning to learn that Wednesday’s drive had completed flawlessly, placing us in a stable position facing a ~3 foot high ridge located ~35 feet away. This ridge is the eastern edge of a feature the team has informally named “Volcán Peña Blanca.” This feature certainly looked intriguing in orbital images, but once we saw Curiosity’s pictures of it from the ground, we decided it was cool enough to spend the time to investigate it closer. The images from the ground show a lot more detail than is visible in orbit, including clear sedimentary structures exposed along the ridge face which could provide important clues about how the rocks in the boxwork-bearing terrain were initially deposited – dunes? Rivers? Lakes? The team picked their favorite spot to approach the ridge and take a closer look during Wednesday’s planning, so Curiosity made a sharp right turn to take us in that direction. Using today’s images, we refined our plan for the exact location to approach and planned a drive to take us there, setting us up for contact science on Monday.
We had the opportunity to plan four sols today, to cover the U.S. 4th of July holiday weekend, so there was lots of time for activities besides the drive. Curiosity is currently sitting right in front of some light toned rocks, including one we gave the evocative name “Huellas de Dinosaurios.” It’s extremely unlikely we’ll see dinosaur footprints in the rock, but we will get the chance to investigate it with APXS, MAHLI, and ChemCam. We also have a pair of ChemCam only targets on a more typical bedrock target named “Amboro” and some pebbles named “Tunari.” Mastcam will take a high resolution of mosaic covering Volcán Peña Blanca, some nearby rocks named “Laguna Verde,” a small light colored rock named “Suruto,” and various patterns in the ground. Two ChemCam RMI mosaics of features in the distant Mishe Mokwa face and environment monitoring activities round out the plan.
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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 2 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4586-4587: Straight Drive, Strategic Science
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Right Navigation Camera on June 28, 2025 — Sol 4583, or Martian day 4,583 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 03:20:22 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Scott VanBommel, Planetary Scientist at Washington University in St. Louis
Earth planning date: Monday, June 30, 2025
Our weekend drive placed Curiosity exactly where we had hoped: on lighter-toned, resistant bedrock we have been eyeing for close study. Curiosity’s workspace tosol did not contain any targets suitable for DRT. After a detailed discussion by the team, weighing science not only in tosol’s plan but the holiday-shifted sols ahead, the decision was made to perform contact science at the current workspace and then drive in the second sol of the plan.
Normally, drives in the second sol of a two-sol plan are uncommon, as we require information on the ground to assess in advance of the next sol’s planning. At present however, the current “Mars time” is quite favorable, enabling Curiosity’s team to operate within “nominal sols” and receive the necessary data in time for Wednesday’s one-sol plan. DAN kicked off the first sol of the plan with a passive measurement, complemented by another in the afternoon and two more on the second sol. Arm activities focused on placing MAHLI and APXS on “La Paz” and “Playa Agua de Luna,” two lighter-toned, laminated rocks.
The rest of the first sol was rounded out with ChemCam LIBS analyses on “La Joya” followed by further LIBS analyses on “La Vega” on the second sol, once Curiosity’s arm was out of the way of the laser. ChemCam and Mastcam additionally imaged “Mishe Mokwa” prior to the nearly straight drive of about 20 meters (about 66 feet). Environmental monitoring activities, imaging of the CheMin inlet cover, and a SAM EBT activity rounded out Curiosity’s efforts on the second sol.
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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 2 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4584 – 4585: Just a Small Bump
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on June 27, 2025 — Sol 4582, or Martian day 4,582 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 05:28:57 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Abigail Fraeman, Deputy Project Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Earth planning date: Friday, June 27, 2025
We weren’t able to unstow Curiosity’s robotic arm on Wednesday because of some potentially unstable rocks under Curiosity’s wheels, but we liked the rocks at Wednesday’s location enough that we decided to spend a sol repositioning the rover so that we’d have another chance today to analyze them. The small adjustment of the rover’s position, or “bump,” as we like to call it during tactical planning, was successful, and we found ourselves in a nice stable pose this morning which allowed us to use our highly capable robotic arm to observe the rocks in front of us.
We will be collecting APXS and MAHLI observations of two targets today. The first, “Santa Elena,” is the bumpy rock that caught our eye on Wednesday. The second, informally named “Estancia Allkamari,” is a patch of nearby sand. We’ll analyze this target to understand if and how the sand composition has changed as we’ve driven across Mount Sharp, and to better help us understand how sand may be contributing to future compositional measurements that cover mixtures of sand and rock. MAHLI and ChemCam will team up to observe a third target named “Ticatica,” which is another bumpy rock nearby that looks like it might have a dark patch on its side.
This is the final weekend of this Martian year when temperature and relative humidity in Gale crater hit the sweet spot where conditions are right for frost to form in the pre-dawn hours. We’re taking this last opportunity to see if we can catch any evidence of frost with the ChemCam laser, shooting a sandy (and hopefully cold) portion of the ground in the pre-dawn hours on a target named “Rio Huasco.” Other activities in the plan include atmospheric monitoring, Mastcam mosaics, including a 20 x 3 mosaic of the large boxwork structures in the distance, and a short drive to the southwest to check out a rocky raised ridge.
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