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Sols 3928-3930: Bumping Along the Gediz Vallis Ridge

A Curiosity rover Navcam “line-of-sight” image of the northern rim of Gale Crater.
A Navcam “line-of-sight” image of the northern rim of Gale Crater, showing off the impressive slope that we’re parked at on the Gediz Vallis Ridge.
NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Earth planning date: Wednesday, August 23, 2023

As was mentioned on Monday, we decided to forgo our usual drive to fit more science in while we are still at our upper Gediz Vallis ridge (uGVr) waypoint. Last Friday's blog talked a little bit about how Mars seems to have been doing everything in its power to stop us from reaching the Gediz Vallis ridge, so now that we're finally here and won't be coming back once we leave, we want to be absolutely certain that we've collected all the data we want to have before we drive away.

This fact was an early motivator in planning today. Before we could sit down to determine our contact science targets, we had to decide where we wanted to drive today. We aren't quite ready to leave the uGVr just yet, so we quickly ruled out the option of backing down off the ridge and returning to our nominal ascent route. That left the decision between a small "bump" to poke at some nearby rocks that are just outside of the range that can be reached from our current location and a longer drive along the side of the ridge. Ultimately, we decided to go for the bump as the longer drive could risk slipping on the sandy terrain that has occasionally caused us problems over the last few months.

Because we didn't drive, we were still positioned in a safe position to get (almost) all of our desired contact science done. Unfortunately, upon closer inspection, the target that had been pre-selected on Monday for DRT was deemed to be DRT-incompatible. However, we were still able to get APXS and MAHLI observations of "Epidaurus" and MAHLI imaging of "Limni Stymfalia." Both of these targets will also be scrutinized by Mastcam and ChemCam LIBS. In addition, ChemCam RMI will continue its imaging of Peace Vallis on the north rim of Gale Crater and Mastcam will document a bedrock target that was selected by ChemCam AEGIS over the weekend.

After our short drive, ENV will get to work with a combined Zenith Movie and Cloud Shadow Movie observation to measure the altitude of clouds above Gale, a south-facing Suprahorizon Movie, and a 360 degree dust devil survey. GEO will use Mastcam to image the area immediately in front of us at our new location to assist with planning on Friday, and the rover will use AEGIS to autonomously select targets for ChemCam LIBS. As always, REMS, RAD, and DAN make this a complete plan with their usual suite of routine observations spread throughout.

Written by Conor Hayes, Graduate Student at York University

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Last Updated
Oct 28, 2024
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NASA Science Editorial Team

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