Crossing the Dunes at Murray Buttes, Sites 54-62, Sols 1353-1659, May 28 2016-Apr 6 2017 Options

[PaulH51]

Midnight Planets: Curiosity moved approximately 39.9m SE (136º) on Sol 1630 LINK Which ties in with the expected drive in Ryan Anderson's USGS mission update

added scale bar

[jvandriel]

The Navcam L view on Sol 1630.

Jan van Driel

[Phil Stooke]

Thanks, Jan - here's a circular version so I can find us on the map.

Phil

[PaulH51]

USGS Mission Update Sols 1632-1633: Contact science on "Spring Point"

The MSL rover drove a little over 40 meters on Sol 1630, to a place with bedrock blocks surrounded by dark sand. There's a bright block with parallel linear features in the arm workspace, so the tactical team decided to plan contact science on those features. This made for an exciting day for me as MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead! The MAHLI image through the closed dust cover that was planned for Sol 1630 was successfully acquired, so we're planning to acquire a similar image of the APXS target "Spring Point" on Sol 1632. MAHLI diagnostic images of its calibration target and more drill diagnostic tests are also planned for Sol 1632, along with ChemCam and Right Mastcam observations of Spring Point and a nearby target named "Nine Lake." Right Mastcam will also take an image of a laminated rock dubbed "Grand Pitch" before the rover drives away. On Sol 1633, Navcam will search for dust devils and ChemCam will again use AEGIS to autonomously select and observe a target in the rover's new location. Finally, MARDI will take another image during twilight. If all goes well, we'll be able to return to normal MAHLI operations this weekend!

[Sean]

Sol 1628 MR



Extended sky & photoshop

[PaulH51]

Stacked focus of the MAHLI cal target (1632) note the wheel grouser (highlighted) Is this the same grouser that was previously pushed in a little?

[PaulH51]

Midnight Planets Reports that Curiosity moved approximately 26.8m SSW (-161º) on Sol 1632 LINK

Rough & Ready mosaic from the 4 available L-NavCam images using MS ICE

[Zelenyikot]

Dust at horizon from 1614 to 1631 sol.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[PaulH51]

Curiosity Rover Mission Update:
Sols 1634-1635: Back to Nominal MAHLI Planning:

MSL drove about 29 meters toward the south on Sol 1632, and is in a good position for weekend activities. The MAHLI images taken on Sol 1632 look good, and the dust cover is working properly, so MAHLI is ready to return to nominal operations! The tactical planning team therefore selected contact science targets on a block right in front of the rover that shows interesting color variations. This bedrock block is too close to the rover to allow ChemCam data to be safely acquired, so a nearby exposure was selected for an analogous measurement and named "Hurricane Mountain." I helped plan ChemCam observations today, and picked a nearly-vertical layered bedrock target that we called "Hardwood Mountain." Right Mastcam will image these targets and take a 4x3 mosaic of another bedrock block dubbed "Rocky Mountain." Mastcam will also acquire a multispectral set of images of "North Haven," a collection of pebbles near Hurricane Mountain, and survey the sky in the afternoon. Then MAHLI will take 5 images of "Canada Falls" from various distances before the APXS is placed on the first of 3 closely-spaced Canada Falls targets. After sunset, APXS data will be gathered on all 3 spots, using the arm to reposition the instrument between integrations.
Early on Sol 1635, Navcam will search for clouds and Mastcam will measure the dust in the atmosphere. Later in the day, more drill diagnostic tests are planned, followed by another set of Mastcam dust observations. Then the rover will drive toward the nearby dune and acquire data that will be used to select a target for the next drive, which will hopefully position the rover well for contact science on the dune sand.

[PaulH51]

Sol 1633 Telephoto RMI Mosaic of 10 overlapping frames.
We dont have the corresponding context images yet, but I'll speculate this could be a search for a path to, or an entry ramp candidate to climb the 'Vera Rubin Ridge'. Any other ideas?

[Sean]

I think I got a match... I've used your RMI mosaic Paul, hope you don't mind.



And a wider context...



This is cropped from my Gigapan of the traverse.

I've marked what I reckon are corresponding features

[PaulH51]

I think I got a match... I've used your RMI mosaic Paul, hope you don't mind.

Nice detective work Sean Great to see the context

[PaulH51]

Curiosity's workspace on Sol 1632 (L-MastCam) assembled in MS ICE, scale from AlgorimancerPG.



1024x610 Link
4220x2512 Link

[Ant103]

Hi

Yes I know it's not finish yet, some frames are missing, but, I couldn't wait to debayer and stitch the Sol 1601 Mastcam34 pan, showing a large portion of the Bagnold dunefield.




And the obligatory postcard :

[Sean]

Beautiful work Damia.