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Sol 686 Update on Curiosity from USGS Scientist Ryan Anderson: Cut Short


The sol 683 drive was cut a bit short because the rover yaw exceeded the specified limits for the drive,

which is a fancy way of saying that the rover steered away from its planned route to avoid an obstacle.

The rover drivers tell the rover to stop when a drive deviates too far from the planned direction so

that they can check and make sure everything is ok. The good news is: the rover is healthy and we’re

planning another drive on sol 685. Before we drive, we will do a quick Mastcam observation of the sun

and a ChemCam passive sky observation. After the drive we will do our standard post-drive imaging.

Then, on sol 686 we will do a blind ChemCam observation with an accompanying Mastcam image. (We

can’t drive on sol 686 because we don’t know how the sol 685 drive went).


Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

Written by Ryan Anderson, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center