Photo credit: science.nasa.gov
Earth planning date: Friday, Feb. 7, 2025
Our journey continues alongside the “Texoli” butte, moving toward our next significant destination, the boxworks feature visible ahead. This location is characterized by a series of extensive ridges, which orbital analysis suggests to be a complex network of fractures.
However, we anticipate that our arrival at this point will not occur until late fall 2025 at the earliest. Presently, our excursions are extensive, with plans for a 50-meter (approximately 164 feet) drive this weekend. Despite the lengthy drives, we remain committed to meticulously documenting the fascinating geology we encounter along the way, rather than simply rushing past.
As highlighted in Conor’s blog post from Wednesday, we are facing challenges related to power usage. While those in the northern hemisphere might be eagerly looking forward to the arrival of Spring, Mars is entering a colder phase, necessitating increased power consumption to keep the rover warm. At the same time, we are experiencing a unique cloud season, as mentioned by Conor, which has prompted the environmental theme group (ENV) to focus on extensive imaging. This creates a need for careful coordination between the ENV and geology theme group (GEO) to maximize our limited power. Fortunately, the current plan accommodates activities for both teams.
The GEO team has been assigned a weekend workspace filled with a variety of rocks, some exhibiting layering while others do not. Although the rocks are relatively small, we have successfully planned for the APXS and MAHLI instruments to analyze a brushed rock surface at “Aliso Canyon” and a nearby flat and unbrushed target called “Bridge to Nowhere.” The ChemCam will utilize its LIBS laser to examine three different bedrock targets: standard bedrock at “Newcomb,” fractured bedrock at “Devore,” and layered material at “Rubio Canyon.” Additionally, Mastcam will document the targets selected by the ChemCam.
Apart from the cloud imaging initiatives, we have numerous other imaging tasks incorporated into this plan. We are currently well-positioned to look back down at the “Marker Band Valley,” a region we first entered nearly a thousand sols ago. Before we progress further along the Texoli butte and potentially lose sight of the Marker Band Valley, both ChemCam and Mastcam will capture images of this area and the “Marker Band.” Additionally, we will conduct remote ChemCam imaging of distant cap rocks and two Mastcam captures of nearby troughs close to the rover.
Written by Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick
Source
science.nasa.gov