We have had our first day off, done by planning two sols at once. In the meantime we discuss the results so far and enjoy some of the NavCam images from Sol 26. This one shows the robotic shadow of our 2 m high mast looming over a new area for analysis encountered as we […]
We now have a weather report for Gale Crater courtesy of the REM instrument. You can see the extreme day-night ‘diurnal’ variation in temperature that is characteristic of Mars, down to -70C and just reaching 0C at noon. The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REM) instruments on the mast and rover deck, are now giving regular […]
We are settled into a daily routine which centres around the data returns from Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. We have a science kick off where different theme groups (Mineralogy, Environment, Geology) discuss the results and think about the priorities for the next uplink of commands. Later in the day there is a Science […]
We have started our drive East to the Glenelg junction. We will go at about tens of metres per sol over the next few weeks. Before every drive we take HazCam pictures from the wheel height of Curiosity to help us plot our path across the rocky plain, away from Bradbury Landing. On our way […]
One of the types of images from the 17 MSL cameras that we are getting are from the ‘Cam’ bit of ChemCam. These 1 Mb images (1024 x 1024 pixels) are principally used to help with the laser targeting at metres distance, but they are very useful for looking in detail at the rocks as […]
Since the noble gas analyses by Viking in 1976 we have had the information to recognise meteorites from Mars (now about 60). My favourite martian meteorites are the nakhlites. These are named after Nakhla which fell near Alexandra in 1911. It contains a mineralogical record of water on Mars which will only be surpassed by […]
In the next few days we are expecting the first measurements by the SAM mass spectrometer instrument (inlet on the top surface of Curiosity) of the Mars atmosphere. The first situ measurements of the Martian atmosphere were made by Viking in 1976. Owen and Biemann published the first noble gas isotopic ratio obtained on the surface of another […]
Bradbury landing is defined as the square outlined by the wheel imprints you can see in my last blog entry. Naming landing sites on Mars after those, who have inspired the science and wider communities, now has a long tradition on Mars. The Pathfinder mission with the first ever rover on Mars, Sojourner, named the […]
The team has taken a break as Governor of California visits JPL to hear about MSL. We also have the first wide angle images HazCam (Hazard Cameras at the front and back of Curiosity) to look at. We have seen the tracks which show that Curiosity has shown that she can drive and manoeuvre. Our […]
The team has taken a break as Governor of California visits JPL to hear about MSL. We also have the first wide angle images HazCam (Hazard Cameras at the front and back of Curiosity) to look at. We have seen the tracks which show that Curiosity has shown that she can drive and manoeuvre. Our […]
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