Blogs

Blogs
Earth planning date: Friday, Nov. 1, 2024 Yesterday evening (Thursday) was Halloween for many of us here on Earth. My neighborhood in eastern Canada was full of small (and not so small!) children, running around in the dark collecting sweets and candy but also getting scared by the ghostly decorations hung at each house. Little […]
Posted November 5, 2024
Blogs
Earth planning date: Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024 Just like you and me, the Curiosity rover has a few idiosyncratic tendencies — special ways that the rover behaves that we, the team on Earth, have come to understand to be harmless but still throw a curveball to our planning.  Unfortunately, the set of activities that were […]
Posted November 1, 2024
Blogs
Earth planning date: Monday, Oct. 28, 2024 Before the science team starts planning, we first look at the latest Navcam image downlinked from Curiosity to see where the rover is located. It can be all too easy to get lost in the scenery of the Navcam and find new places in the distance we want […]
Posted October 31, 2024
Blogs
The Perseverance rover lurks in the quiet, cold, desolate landscape of Jezero crater on Mars, a place masked in shadows and haunted by past mysteries. Built to endure the planet’s harsh conditions, Perseverance braves the thin atmosphere and extreme temperature swings.
Posted October 30, 2024
Blogs
Earth planning date: Friday, Oct. 25, 2024 The changes to the plan Wednesday, moving the drive a sol earlier, meant that we started off planning this morning about 18 meters (about 59 feet) farther along the western edge of Gediz Vallis and with all the data we needed for planning. This included the knowledge that […]
Posted October 29, 2024
Blogs
Earth planning date: Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024 Curiosity is driving along the western edge of the Gediz Vallis channel, heading for a good vantage point before turning westward and leaving the channel behind to explore the canyons beyond. The contact science for “Chuck Pass” on sol 4341 and backwards 30-meter drive (about 98 feet) on […]
Posted October 26, 2024
Blogs
After discovering and sampling the “leopard spots” of “Bright Angel,” it became apparent that Perseverance’s journey of discovery in this region was not yet finished.
Posted October 25, 2024
Blogs
Earth planning date: Monday, Oct. 21, 2024 After Curiosity’s busy weekend, the team is ready for another day of planning. We are able to take advantage of the Earth-Mars time offset to full plan on both sols of our plan today. For this plan, I served as Mobility Rover Planner, and planned Curiosity’s drive.  The […]
Posted October 25, 2024
Blogs
Earth planning date: Friday, Oct. 18, 2024 On sol 4338, we have a science block planned as well as some arm activities. Our science activities include a ChemCam observation of “Donkey Lake.” This is a bedrock target with exposed laminations. In geology, lamination is a sequence of small-scale, embedded fine layers of sedimentary rock. Next, […]
Posted October 22, 2024
Blogs
Earth planning date: Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024 Curiosity continues to drive along the western edge of the upper Gediz Vallis channel. After exiting the channel a few weeks ago, we turned north to image the “back side” of the deposits that we investigated on the eastern side before the channel crossing. As a member of […]
Posted October 18, 2024
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