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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 3 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4655-4660: Boxworks With a View
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image, showing the boxwork terrain in the foreground and the bright wind-sculpted material in the distance, on Sept. 12, 2025. Curiosity used its Right Navigation Camera on Sol 4657, or Martian day 4,657 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, at 00:50:58 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Earth planning date: Friday Sept. 12, 2025
Curiosity continues to image, analyze, and traverse through a landscape characterized by higher standing ridges separating low-lying depressions (hollows) — a surface known as the boxwork terrain on Mount Sharp. The science team is actively characterizing the texture, chemistry, and mineralogy of the ridges and hollows to understand how this surface formed and changed over time. I served as the Geology theme group “Keeper of the Plan” for Sols 4656-4657 where I compiled the details for each scientific activity that will be carried out by the rover. I selected the particular Navcam image accompanying this blog post because it not only shows the intriguing boxwork terrain beneath our wheels but also highlights the striking wind-sculpted yardangs on our exciting route ahead.
Our successful drive over the weekend set us up nicely to investigate the bedrock ridge in the workspace directly in front of the rover on Sol 4655. The target “Chango” was selected for closer inspection with the dust removal tool (DRT) and APXS and MAHLI instruments. ChemCam used its LIBS instrument to analyze the chemistry of a bedrock ridge at the “Quechua” target, and Mastcam and ChemCam included several mosaics to document walls of nearby hollow interiors, fractures, and the hollow-to-ridge transitions.
The plan for Sols 4656-4657 focused on a variety of remote sensing activities including a 360-degree mosaic by Mastcam — one of the most spectacular data products! ChemCam investigated the local bedrock and a raised resistant bedrock feature at “Chita” and “Chaco,” respectively, and then turned its sights to the distant floor of Gale crater to image features that may have formed when water eroded material from the interior walls of the crater rim.
Planning on Friday for Sols 4658-4660 included three targeted science blocks to dig deeper into the boxwork unit. ChemCam LIBS will analyze the bedrock at targets “Tarata” and “El Sombrio” and a rock that does not look like typical bedrock at “Cobres.” The Mastcam team assembled multiple images and mosaics that will help decipher the distribution of veins, fractures, and nodules (somewhat rounded features) in the bedrock, as well as small sand dunes in and around the workspace. The environmental theme group worked throughout the week to monitor clouds and dust-devil activity, and planned Mastcam tau observations to assess the optical depth of the atmosphere and constrain aerosol scattering properties.
Want to read more posts from the Curiosity team?
Visit Mission Updates
Want to learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments?
Visit the Science Instruments page
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity at the base of Mount Sharp NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Share
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Last Updated Sep 15, 2025 Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:01:43 An essential part of ESA’s Space Safety programme is dedicated to getting and keeping Earth’s orbits clean from space debris. In the long run, the Agency aspires to stimulate a true circular economy in space, minimising the impact of spaceflight on Earth and its resources where possible. As part of ESA’s Zero Debris approach, new ESA missions will be designed for safe operations and disposal to stop the creation of new debris by 2030.
ESA has now taken another important step on the road towards sustainability in space with its first in-orbit servicing mission RISE, planned for launch in 2029.
RISE is a commercial in-orbit servicing mission that will demonstrate that it can safely rendezvous and dock to a geostationary client satellite, extending the life of geostationary satellites that need support with attitude and orbit control, but are otherwise in working order.
After verifying that it meets all the performance standards in a first demonstration, prime contractor, operator and co-founder D-Orbit will start commercial life extension services for geostationary satellites.
ESA’s RISE mission marks a promising step towards enhancing in-orbit services and technologies, such as refuelling, refurbishment and assembling – all essential elements for creating a circular economy in space.
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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 2 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4649-4654: Ridges, Hollows and Nodules, Oh My
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera, showing the transition from smoother ridge bedrock (right) to more nodular bedrock (bottom left to top middle) on the edge of a shallow hollow (top left). Curiosity, whose masthead shadow is also visible, captured this image on Sept. 5, 2025 — Sol 4650, or Martian day 4,650 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 00:22:34 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Lucy Thompson, Planetary Scientist and APXS Team Member, University of New Brunswick, Canada
Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 5, 2025
Curiosity is in the midst of the boxwork campaign, trying to decipher why we see such pronounced ridges and hollows in this area of Mount Sharp. When this terrain was first identified from orbit it was hypothesized that the ridges may be the result of cementation by circulating fluids, followed by differential erosion of the less resistant bedrock in between (the hollows that we now observe).
We have been exploring the boxwork terrain documenting textures, structures and composition to investigate potential differences between ridges and hollows. One of the textural features we have observed are nodules in varying abundance. The focus of our activities this week was to document the transition from smoother bedrock atop a boxwork ridge to more nodular bedrock associated with the edge of a shallow hollow.
In Tuesday’s three-sol plan we analyzed the smoother bedrock within the ridge, documenting textures with MAHLI, Mastcam, and ChemCam RMI, and chemistry with ChemCam LIBS and APXS. Curiosity then successfully bumped towards the edge of the ridge/hollow to place the more nodular bedrock in our workspace. Friday’s three-sol plan was basically a repeat of the previous observations, but this time focused on the more nodular bedrock. The planned drive should take us to another boxwork ridge, and closer to the area where we plan to drill into one of the ridges.
As the APXS strategic planner this week, I helped to select the rock targets for analysis by our instrument, ensuring they were safe to touch and that they met the science intent of the boxwork campaign. I also communicated to the rest of the team the most recent results from our APXS compositional analyses and how they fit into our investigation of the boxwork terrain. This will help to inform our fast-approaching decision about where to drill.
Both plans included Mastcam and ChemCam long-distance RMI imaging of more distant features, including other boxwork ridges and hollows, buttes, the yardang unit, and Gale crater rim. Planned environmental activities continue to monitor dust in the atmosphere, dust-devil activity, and clouds. Standard REMS, RAD, and DAN activities round out the week’s activities.
Want to read more posts from the Curiosity team?
Visit Mission Updates
Want to learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments?
Visit the Science Instruments page
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity at the base of Mount Sharp NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Share
Details
Last Updated Sep 12, 2025 Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
The European Space Agency’s Plato spacecraft has safely arrived at ESTEC, ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands. There, engineers will complete the spacecraft by connecting its solar panels and sunshield, and carry out a series of critical tests to confirm that Plato is fit for launch and ready for its planet-hunting mission in space.
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By NASA
NASA/Rad Sinyak Orion Mission Evaluation Room (MER) team member works during an Artemis II mission simulation on Aug. 19, 2025, from the new Orion MER inside the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
As NASA’s Orion spacecraft is carrying crew around the Moon on the Artemis II mission, a team of expert engineers in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will be meticulously monitoring the spacecraft along its journey. They’ll be operating from a new space in the mission control complex built to host the Orion Mission Evaluation Room (MER). Through the success of Orion and the Artemis missions, NASA will return humanity to the Moon and prepare to land an American on the surface of Mars.
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