The Perseverance rover is reaching new heights as it ascends the rim of Jezero crater (over 300 meters in elevation higher than the original landing site)! The rover is now enroute to its first campaign science stop Dox Castle (image in the far ground) a region of interest for its potential to host ancient Mars’…

Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 13, 2024 Today, I need to talk about ChemCam, our laser and imaging instrument on the top of Curiosity’s mast. It one of the instruments in the “head” that gives Curiosity that cute look as if it were looking around tilting its head down to the rocks at the rover’s…

Earth planning date: Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024 The rover is on its way from the Tungsten Hills site to the next priority site for Gediz Vallis channel exploration, in which we plan to get in close enough for arm science to one of the numerous large dark-toned “float” blocks in the channel and also to…

To conclude its exploration of the mysterious margin unit before it ascends the rim of Jezero Crater, Perseverance made one last stop this past week to investigate these strange rocks at “Eremita Mesa.” Since beginning its steep drive up the crater rim, Perseverance has been traversing along the edge of the margin unit (the margin…

Earth planning date: Monday, Sept. 9, 2024 With today’s plan, Curiosity completes its most southerly planned exploration of the Gediz Vallis channel. From here, our rover will head north and climb out of the channel to explore terrain to the west. Our planned drive to the “Tungsten Hills” rocks, named for a famous mining district…

Earth planning date: Monday, Sept. 9, 2024 With today’s plan, Curiosity completes its most southerly planned exploration of the Gediz Vallis channel. From here, our rover will head north and climb out of the channel to explore terrain to the west. Our planned drive to the “Tungsten Hills” rocks, named for a famous mining district…

Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 6, 2024 Contact science in our immediate workspace includes a joint effort by MAHLI and APXS to characterize a gray rock with two targets named “Big Baldy” and “Big Bird Lake.” ChemCam focused its Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument on a rock with a reddish coating, “Purple Creek,” and…

It’s dust-storm season on Mars! Over the past couple of weeks, as we ascended the Jezero Crater rim, our science team has monitored increasing dust in the atmosphere — typically highest around this time of the Martian year.

Earth planning date: Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024 Today’s two-sol plan contains the usual science blocks filled with contact science and remote science to observe and assess the geology surrounding us. However, the Mastcam team is hoping to capture a special celestial event above the Martian skyline as one of Mars’ moons, Phobos, will be in…

Earth planning date: Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024 Curiosity has returned to “McDonald Pass,” a block within Gediz Vallis that we first spotted about a month ago (as seen in the above Front Hazcam image). The block shows some interesting zonation — the distribution of textures and colors into different areas, or zones. We’re hoping that…