NASA has shared images taken by Curiosity Rover on the Mars belonging to the rocky surface of the Central Butte that is a part oof the Gale Crater.
During the weekend plan, there is plenty of contact science. “Upperhill” will be targeted with both MAHLI and APXS after the DRT removes dust from the surface. “Stonehive” is an additional MAHLI and APXS target in the plan. Finally, “Kenmore” is a MAHLI-only target that will look at the side of a block to help us investigate sedimentary structures in this area.
ChemCam has four targets in the weekend plan including Stonehive, which is also a contact science target. ChemCam will also target “Ericht,” “Biggar,” and “Reay” to document any variations present in the workspace. Mastcam will take documentation images of all the ChemCam targets. Mastcam will also take a multispectral observation of Upperhill. This observation will take advantage of the DRT target to obtain multispectral data of a dust-cleared area. Additionally, Mastcam will take several mosaics of the butte. “Hunda” is an expansion of a previous mosaic with the same name. Interesting sedimentary structures were identified in the original mosaic, so the expanded mosaic will help us understand the extent of these sedimentary structures. “Carstairs” is a mosaic that is looking along the side of the butte in order to look at the outcropping laminations from a different angle. The final mosaic will be of the top of Central Butte to capture an area that we will not be able to drive up to.
After all of these observations, Curiosity will start driving around the butte to look at it from the other side. We expect to continue having amazing views of Central Butte at our next stop!
