An Update on Curiosity from USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Sol 513 Early Planning

Today, as the SOWG Chair, I am once again leading the planning for Sol 513 of the mission. The focus for this sol will be capturing a full set of MAHLI images of the rover’s wheels. These images will be taken in between short drives to allow for the wheels to be turned slightly, ensuring that the entire surfaces can be imaged thoroughly. This process requires a significant amount of power, so our main consideration in planning the day’s activities was to ensure that we do not deplete the rover’s battery too much.

Despite this constraint, we were still able to incorporate some post-drive science tasks into our plan for the day. These tasks include a DAN active measurement to detect hydrogen below the surface, a Navcam cloud search, and the necessary imaging to plan targeted observations for Sol 514. The timing for sending the command sequences to the rover is crucial, as they must be sent by about 5 PM Pacific time. As a result, planning for Sol 513 began 1.5 hours earlier than usual to ensure that everything could be finalized in time.

It is worth noting that yesterday, planning started even earlier, when it was still dark outside as I drove into work. Despite the early start and the challenges posed by power constraints, the team remains dedicated to conducting valuable scientific investigations and ensuring the success of the mission.