Category: Blogs

Written by Lauren Edgar, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center Earth planning date: Friday, July 18, 2025 Curiosity has started to investigate the main exposure of the boxwork structures! What was once a distant target is now on our doorstep, and Curiosity is beginning to explore the ridges and hollows that make up this […]

Written by Alex Innanen, Atmospheric Scientist at York University Earth planning date: Wednesday, July 16, 2025 As we hoped, we successfully climbed the 11-meter ramp (about 36 feet) and have arrived at the top of the ridge and the start of the main boxwork region. This means we’re moving into the next phase of the […]

Written by Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Earth planning date: Monday, July 14, 2025 The Curiosity rover continues to navigate through the region of Mount Sharp characterized by the boxwork terrain.  After successfully completing a drive of about 34 meters over the weekend (about 112 feet), the […]

Written by Michelle Minitti, MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator, Framework Earth planning date: Friday, July 11, 2025 Imagine this vista as the view out your office window to start your workday. Your natural tendency would be to grab your camera and photograph as much of the view as possible. Curiosity was lucky enough to find herself […]

Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Earth planning date: Wednesday, July 9, 2025 In today’s plan, we have a little bit of everything. With it being winter still, we are taking advantage of the ability to let the rover sleep in, doing most of the activities in the afternoon […]

Written by Susanne P. Schwenzer, Professor of Planetary Mineralogy at The Open University, UK Earth planning date: Monday, July 7, 2025 A few planning sols ago, we spotted a small ridge in the landscape ahead of us. Ridges and structures that are prominently raised above the landscape are our main target along this part of […]

Written by Eleanor Moreland, Ph.D. Student Collaborator at Rice University For the past month and a half, Perseverance has been exploring the Krokodillen plateau in search of clay-bearing rocks. An earlier blog discussed that these rocks could hold clues to Mars’ watery past, and Perseverance has been exploring multiple potential locations to find a suitable […]

Written by Abigail Fraeman, Deputy Project Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Earth planning date: Thursday, July 3, 2025 The team was delighted this morning to learn that Wednesday’s drive had completed flawlessly, placing us in a stable position facing a ~3 foot high ridge located ~35 feet away.  This ridge is the eastern edge […]

Written by Lucy Thompson, APXS Collaborator and Senior Research Scientist at the University of New Brunswick, CanadaEarth planning date: Wednesday, July 2, 2025As we traverse the boxwork terrain, we are encountering a series of more resistant ridges/bedrock patches, and areas that are more rubbly and tend to form lower relief polygonal or trough-like features. We […]

Written by Scott VanBommel, Planetary Scientist at Washington University in St. Louis Earth planning date: Monday, June 30, 2025 Our weekend drive placed Curiosity exactly where we had hoped: on lighter-toned, resistant bedrock we have been eyeing for close study. Curiosity’s workspace tosol did not contain any targets suitable for DRT. After a detailed discussion […]