Written by Lucy Lim, planetary scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Earth Plan Date: Monday, April 28, 2025

Curiosity is back on the road! For SOLS 4525 and 4526, we have an isolated nominal plan where the communication pass positive order works in such a way that the rover can place fully targeted science blocks on both SOLs, rather than just the first SOL. So in this Martian winter that yearns for power, we have a great location to take advantage of the power saved during the missed uplink.

The weekend's drive went well and sent the rovers into a stable, handrail-compatible location with the workspace with rock targets that we could brush with DRT. Happy days! DRT/APXS/MAHLI measurements will bring us geochemical and rock texture data for local bedrock blocks “Bradshaw Trail” and “Sweetwater River”. Further geochemical information will come from the Chemcam Libs Raster of the rougher target “Breeze Mountain”, as well as the vein or coating of the exposed layer, vein or dark-toned material “Laguna Mountain” that expresses polygonal features.

Long-distance imaging using Chemcam RMI includes a mosaic to increase the coverage of our boxing deposition features of this curiosity, which will soon be explored in situ. The second RMI mosaic is planned to cover the truncated sedimentary horizon on Texoli Butte, which may provide further evidence of ancient risk search events. Meanwhile, "Morrell Potrero" Mastcam Mosaic will provide some details that both her thoughts of "Ghost Mountain" Butte and nearby ridges. In the drive direction, the "Garnet Peak" mosaic will capture some potential new rock textures and colors in the upcoming strata.

Near-field imaging in the program includes MastCam documentation to provide some valley troughs in response to modern weathered weathering environments that provide evidence for sand and dust movements. Additionally, Mastcam Mosaics entered “Breeze Mountain” (covering Libs Target) and “Live Oak” to record changes in bedding, color and texture in nearby bedrock.

Plan to do some modern environment observations in the afternoon: a phase-function sky survey to look for scattered light from thin ice clouds and a separate set of cloud height observations.

Finally, the plan is to develop a Mastcam document image for Aegis Libs Target on weekend plans! This reflects an update to the roamer's capabilities, in which you can determine and downlink in a timely manner, link to a decision downlink pass so that we know where to look for it in the next planning cycle.