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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 More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 3 min read
Sols 4250-4252: So Many Rocks, So Little Time
This image was taken by Right Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4248 – Martian day 4,248 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission – on July 19, 2024, at 02:34:33 UTC. Earth planning date: Friday, July 19, 2024
As usual with our weekend plans, we are packing a lot of science into today’s three-sol plan. I had the fun of planning a complex and large set of arm activities as the Arm Rover Planner today. Since we did not drive in Wednesday’s plan, we still are looking at targets in the same workspace – shown in the image with the arm down on a contact science target. We are finishing up the observations at our current location on “Fairview Dome.”
In our first set of imaging, we begin with a Navcam dust devil movie. Then, ChemCam is taking a LIBS observation on “Koip Peak” (a nodular bedrock) and an RMI mosaic on Texoli butte. We also have Mastcam imaging on Koip Peak, “Amphitheater Dome” (Wednesday’s contact science target), the channel wall, and the AEGIS target from sol 4247. After a nap, we’re ready for the arm. The arm work was challenging today, as we had a lot to do. We start by taking MAHLI images of a target named “Saddlebag Lake,” a bumpy, rough part of the bedrock. We then brush and take MAHLI images of “Eagle Scout Peak,” which is a dusty portion of the same bedrock. We are also running an experiment today to see if we can run the DRT brush in parallel with using our UHF antenna, to downlink data without impacting the data. After integrating with APXS on Eagle Scout Peak, we take nighttime MALHI imaging (using the LEDs) of the CheMin inlet to look for any signs of stuck sample and stow the arm. We are also cleaning out the sample from the CheMin instrument, by “dumping” it out and then running an analysis on the empty cell.
The second sol begins with more atmospheric observations. We have another ChemCam LIBS observation of the “Smith Peak” target, which is a dark and dusty spot on the bedrock, and Mastcam mosaics of “Virginia Peak” (the gray edge of the rock), the summit of “Milestone Peak”, and “McDonald Pass” (a nearby piece of bedrock that looks similar to our recent drill target, “Whitebark Pass”). We’re then ready to drive. Today’s drive is taking us about 30 meters south (about 98 feet). We’re driving cross-slope, which is always a challenge because we have to account for sliding sideways, away from the planned path. Fortunately there are no major hazards in the area, so we can tolerate some deviation from our path. This drive should take us close to our next potential drill location! We’re also testing, for the first time on Mars, a new capability that helps the rover make more precise arc turns, which can reduce the amount of steering we need to do, and help preserve our wheels. After taking our normal post-drive imaging, our final activity on this sol is an APXS atmospheric observation.
On our third sol, around noon, we are taking a ChemCam AEGIS observation and a lot of atmospheric observations, including another dust devil survey and Mastcam solar tau. Finally, just before handing things over to Monday’s plan, we take additional atmospheric observations in the early morning.
Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Last Updated Jul 23, 2024 Related Terms
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
This illustration of the large Quetzalpetlatl Corona located in Venus’ southern hemisphere depicts active volcanism and a subduction zone, where the foreground crust plunges into the planet’s interior. A new study suggests coronae reveal locations where active geology is shaping Venus’ surface. The stars above and on Earth aligned as an inspirational message and lyrics from the song “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” by hip-hop artist Missy Elliott were beamed to Venus via NASA’s DSN (Deep Space Network). The agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California sent the transmission at 10:05 a.m. PDT on Friday, July 12.
As the largest and most sensitive telecommunication service of NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program, DSN has an array of giant radio antennas that allow missions to track, send commands, and receive scientific data from spacecraft venturing to the Moon and beyond. To date, the system has transmitted only one other song into space, making the transmission of Elliott’s song a first for hip-hop and NASA.
“Both space exploration and Missy Elliott’s art have been about pushing boundaries,” said Brittany Brown, director, Digital and Technology Division, Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington, who initially pitched ideas to Missy’s team to collaborate with the agency. “Missy has a track record of infusing space-centric storytelling and futuristic visuals in her music videos so the opportunity to collaborate on something out of this world is truly fitting.”
The song traveled about 158 million miles (254 million kilometers) from Earth to Venus — the artist’s favorite planet. Transmitted at the speed of light, the radio frequency signal took nearly 14 minutes to reach the planet. The transmission was made by the 34-meter (112-foot) wide Deep Space Station 13 (DSS-13) radio dish antenna, located at the DSN’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, near Barstow in California. Coincidentally, the DSS-13 also is nicknamed Venus.
Elliott’s music career started more than 30 years ago, and the DSN has been communicating with spacecraft for over 60 years. Now, thanks to the network, Elliott’s music has traveled far beyond her Earth-bound fans to a different world.
“I still can’t believe I’m going out of this world with NASA through the Deep Space Network when “The Rain” (Supa Dupa Fly) becomes the first ever hip-hop song to transmit to space!,” said Elliott. “I chose Venus because it symbolizes strength, beauty, and empowerment and I am so humbled to have the opportunity to share my art and my message with the universe!”
Two NASA missions, selected in 2021, will explore Venus and send data back to Earth using the DSN. DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging), led out of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is slated to launch no earlier than 2029. The VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy), launching no earlier than 2031, is lead out of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. NASA and the DSN are also partnering with the European Space Agency’s Venus mission, Envision. A team at JPL is developing the spacecraft’s Venus Synthetic Aperture Radar (VenSAR).
In continuous operations since 1963, NASA SCaN’s DSN is composed of three complexes spaced equidistant from each other — approximately 120 degrees apart in longitude — around the planet. The ground stations are in Goldstone in California, Madrid, and Canberra in Australia.
The Deep Space Network is managed by JPL for the SCaN program within the Space Operations Mission Directorate, based at NASA Headquarters.
For more information about NASA’s Deep Space Network, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/communicating-with-missions/dsn/
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Last Updated Jul 15, 2024 Related Terms
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Sols 4236-4238: One More Time… for Contact Science at Mammoth Lakes
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, on July 4, 2024, Sol 4234 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 16:38:50 UTC. This image of the Mammoth Lakes 2 drill fines and drill hole was taken from about 25 centimeters (about 10 inches) above the surface. Earth planning date: Friday, July 5, 2024
Curiosity will drive away from the Mammoth Lakes drill location on the second sol of this three-sol weekend plan, but before she does, the team will take the opportunity for one last chance at contact science in this interesting region of the Gediz Vallis deposit. The team have noticed distinct troughs surrounding many of the bright-toned, pitted blocks in this area and have been wanting to get closer imaging with MAHLI before driving away. We were unable to do this with powdered Mammoth Lakes still in the drill stem but, having dumped any remaining material in the previous plan, Curiosity is free to use her arm again for contact science, and hence the MAHLI camera. We will take images from about 30 centimeters (about 12 inches) away from the block (“Glacier Notch”) with MAHLI. Unfortunately, “Glacier Notch” was too close to the rover to be able to fit the turret in for APXS to examine the chemistry, so we had to choose a different target: “Lake Ediza” is an example of gray material that rims the Mammoth Lakes drill block.
We also have one last chance for ChemCam and Mastcam in this immediate area. We will acquire ChemCam passive spectra of the Mammoth Lakes powdered material surrounding the drill hole (we collected APXS data and MAHLI images of the drill fines in the previous plan) and LIBS on a darker-toned target, “Zumwalt Meadow.” These targets will be documented by Mastcam. The long-distance imaging capabilities of ChemCam will also be utilized to examine nearby ridge and trough-like forms.
There are also a slew of atmospheric/environmental observations planned. Before we drive away, we will take advantage of being parked in the same spot while drilling to monitor any changes in the immediate environment by re-imaging a couple of areas previously captured on multiple occasions by Mastcam. Other atmospheric observations include a Navcam line-of-sight mosaic, Navcam dust devil, zenith, and suprahorizon movies, a ChemCam passive sky, and Mastcam taus.
After the drive, MARDI will image the terrain beneath the wheels and ChemCam will autonomously select a target to analyze with LIBS. Standard REMS, DAN and RAD activities round out the plan.
The team are looking forward to a new workspace when we return for planning on Monday, and continued investigation of the Gediz Vallis deposit.
Written by Lucy Thompson, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick
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Last Updated Jul 06, 2024 Related Terms
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