Curiosity’s location as of Sol 3774. Distance driven to that sol: 18.49 miles/29.76 kilometers.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3775 duties.
It was a jam packed weekend for the robot on Mars reports Sharon Wilson, a planetary geologist at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3774, March 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“The rover is heading south across the Marker Band and is currently sitting in front of a lovely view that includes a contact between two types of bedrock,” Wilson notes. “The lower section of bedrock consists of very thin, horizontal layers, as though you were looking at the edge of a thick stack of construction paper. Above, the bedrock appears rougher and bumpier and is not finely layered.”

Curiosity Left Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3771, March 16, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Abrupt change in appearance
Over last weekend, the plan called for Curiosity to analyze both of these bedrock sections, below and above the contact, because this abrupt change in appearance may help Mars researchers understand how the environment evolved over time.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3774, March 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The weekend plan also scripted use of several instruments to characterize the bedrock, including the Dust Removal Tool (DRT), the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS), the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), and multispectral activities of the “San Rafael” target in the lower section, and the “San Francisco de Yuruani” target in the upper section.

Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 3774, March 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“A MAHLI mosaic of target ‘Santa Elena de Uairen’ will stretch vertically across the two types of bedrock,” Wilson adds.
Short drive
The robot’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) device was slated to analyze the “Pico del Toro” target in the lower section and the “San Francisco de Yuruani” target in the upper section.

Curiosity Front Hazard Right B Avoidance Camera image taken on Sol 3774, March 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“Mastcam will document the contact in the workspace as well, in addition to taking a stereo image of target “Iurua” to get a closer view of an interesting rock sitting on the surface nearby,” Wilson points out.

Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image acquired on Sol 3774, March 19, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“Once Curiosity wraps up this long list of science activities, the rover will complete a short drive toward a nearby bedrock outcrop, stopping to take a look at a “foreign” stone (a rock that looks different than the surrounding bedrock),” Wilson reports.
Monitoring of environmental conditions was to continue over last weekend, with a survey for dust devils and observing the dust in the atmosphere.
“We have so much to celebrate after ten years of exploration with the Mars Science Laboratory Rover Curiosity,” Wilson concludes, “and so much to look forward to on the road ahead!”