Written by Abigail Fraeman, Deputy Challenge Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Earth planning date: Thursday, July 3, 2025
The crew was delighted this morning to be taught that Wednesday’s drive had accomplished flawlessly, inserting us in a secure place going through a ~3 foot excessive ridge positioned ~35 toes away. This ridge is the jap fringe of a characteristic the crew has informally named “Volcán Peña Blanca.” This characteristic definitely regarded intriguing in orbital photographs, however as soon as we noticed Curiosity’s footage of it from the bottom, we determined it was cool sufficient to spend the time to analyze it nearer. The pictures from the bottom present much more element than is seen in orbit, together with clear sedimentary buildings uncovered alongside the ridge face which may present essential clues about how the rocks within the boxwork-bearing terrain have been initially deposited – dunes? Rivers? Lakes? The crew picked their favourite spot to method the ridge and take a better look throughout Wednesday’s planning, so Curiosity made a pointy proper flip to take us in that course. Utilizing at the moment’s photographs, we refined our plan for the precise location to method and deliberate a drive to take us there, setting us up for contact science on Monday.
We had the chance to plan 4 sols at the moment, to cowl the U.S. 4th of July vacation weekend, so there was plenty of time for actions in addition to the drive. Curiosity is at the moment sitting proper in entrance of some gentle toned rocks, together with one we gave the evocative title “Huellas de Dinosaurios.” It’s extraordinarily unlikely we’ll see dinosaur footprints within the rock, however we’ll get the prospect to analyze it with APXS, MAHLI, and ChemCam. We even have a pair of ChemCam solely targets on a extra typical bedrock goal named “Amboro” and a few pebbles named “Tunari.” Mastcam will take a excessive decision of mosaic masking Volcán Peña Blanca, some close by rocks named “Laguna Verde,” a small gentle coloured rock named “Suruto,” and numerous patterns within the floor. Two ChemCam RMI mosaics of options within the distant Mishe Mokwa face and atmosphere monitoring actions spherical out the plan.