Category: Blogs

Written by Eleanor Moreland, Ph.D. Student Collaborator at Rice University  Perseverance has been busy exploring lower “Witch Hazel Hill,” an outcrop exposed on the edge of the Jezero crater rim. The outcrop is composed of alternating light and dark layers, and naturally, the team has been trying to understand the makeup of and relationships between […]

Written by Scott VanBommel, Planetary Scientist at Washington University Earth planning date: Wednesday, April 23, 2025 I will start this blog with an apology, an apology because I suspect, by the end of this post, you, the reader, may have a craving for chocolate, or cake, or both. While we saw hints of it in […]

Written by Scott VanBommel, Planetary Scientist at Washington University Earth planning date: Wednesday, April 23, 2025 I will start this blog with an apology, an apology because I suspect, by the end of this post, you, the reader, may have a craving for chocolate, or cake, or both. While we saw hints of it in […]

Written by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University Earth planning date: Monday, 21st April 2025 It is Easter Monday, a bank holiday here in the United Kingdom. I am Science Operations Working Group Chair today, a role that is mainly focused on coordinating all the different planning activities on a given day, and […]

Written by Lucy Thompson, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick Earth planning date: Friday, April 18, 2025 As the APXS operations person today, I was hopeful that we could plan a compositional measurement after brushing one of the bedrock blocks in front of the rover. However, it soon became clear that the rover was not on […]

Written by Lauren Edgar, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center Earth planning date: Monday, April 14, 2025 We all know the feeling: it’s Monday morning after a big weekend and you’re coming into the week wishing you’d had a little more time to rest and recharge.  Well, Curiosity probably feels the same way today. […]

Written by Abigail Fraeman, Planetary Geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Earth planning date: Friday, April 11, 2025 Curiosity is continuing to book it to the potential boxwork structures.  The rover drove over 50 meters on Wednesday, and we plan to drive more than 50 meters again in today’s plan thanks to an unusually good […]

Written by Natalie Moore, Mission Operations Specialist at Malin Space Science Systems Earth planning date: Wednesday, April 9, 2025 Our drive from Monday’s plan was mostly successful, putting us ~22 meters down the “road” out of an expected 30 meters. A steering command halted the drive a little short when we tried to turn-in-place but […]

Written by Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick Earth planning date: Monday, April 7, 2025 Over the weekend, we completed our drive up the steep side of a canyon, up onto “Devil’s Gate,” a small butte which forms part of the ridge along the top of the canyon and now we can see down into the next […]

Written by Michelle Minitti, Planetary Geologist at Framework Earth planning date: Friday, April 4, 2025 We continue to make progress driving up Mount Sharp, each day gaining new perspectives on the spectacular, towering buttes surrounding our path. To get to the next canyon we can ascend, we have to swing around the north end of […]