Earth planning date: Friday, August 18, 2023: The Gediz Vallis Ridge has been a long-term, and, at times, seemingly impossible goal of the Curiosity Rover mission. Our path to it has repeatedly been diverted from our first difficult climb onto the Greenhugh Pediment way back in 2020, our dead-end foray onto and across the pediment through a steep side ravine of the Gediz Vallis, ultimately blocked by the potentially wheel-eating "Gatorback" ridges in 2022, and finally to our recent slip-and-slide circuitous climb out of the Marker Band Valley onto the Gedis Vallis ridge itself. The team today called GV Ridge the "Bermuda Triangle" of Mt. Sharp. We are now just a few meters away from being able to reach the arm out and get contact science on some of the ridge material, and anticipation is growing.
The drive on Sol 3921 ended a few meters short of our destination cluster of boulders due to some sideways sliding en-route. The uncertain footing also left our wheels unsafe to support a deployment of Curiosity's arm, so all of our weekend science activities will be via targeted remote sensing rather than use of the arm's instruments for more detailed study. Mastcam is taking this opportunity to perform a 360 degree panorama, which should be spectacular! Mastcam will also have large mosaics targeted at the transition between the dark "float" rock ridge material and the underlying sulfate-bearing bedrock, as well as multispectral imaging of the nearby "Skiathos" and "Skopelos" boulders.
ChemCam will zap those same rocks with its laser to study a possible surface coating and compositional variations between rock layers. ChemCam will also use the telescopic mode of its RMI camera to zoom in on a light colored bedrock wall adjacent to a basin of dark sand and to continue its characterization of the amazing layering on Kukenan Butte. Meanwhile, Navcam will take some dust devil movies and a measurement of dust in the air across Gale Crater, as well as imaging of clouds and their shadows on the beautiful peaks around us.
Another short 2 m drive, which the team calls a "bump," will finally place Curiosity within arm's reach of the boulder collection on Sol 3924. Following our usual set of post-drive observations, Curiosity will perform AEGIS and MARDI imaging on Sol 3925 to further document the geology of our new location. We end the plan in the early morning of Sol 3926 with a set of atmospheric observations, including a dust measurement and a Navcam 360 phase function sky survey.
With Monday's plan, Curiosity will hopefully be able to finally perform contact science on a diverse cluster of GV Ridge boulders, presuming that our drive is successful and doesn't leave our wheels perched on any of the abundant rocks on this steep slope. Another remaining challenge is a very tiny decisional downlink on Monday, giving us very little data to decide on our next steps. In addition, on Monday, JPL is in the bullseye of the very first tropical storm watch to ever be posted in Southern California by the National Hurricane Center. Fingers crossed that the "GV Ridge Triangle" will not claim another MSL plan before Curiosity reaches the top!
Artificial Intelligence Analysis
Defense Industry Analyst (9/10) The article discusses the progress of the Curiosity Rover mission as it works to reach its long-term goal of the Gediz Vallis Ridge. The article highlights the obstacles that the Rover has faced while trying to reach the ridge, and the science activities that the Rover will conduct to assess the ridge upon arrival. The article’s content is highly relevant to the defense industry, as the Curiosity Rover is a tool used by the US military to explore and analyze the surface of Mars. The article provides insight into the Rover’s progress, which has implications for future defense research, as well as the development of defense technology.
Stock Market Analyst (6/10)
The article discusses the progress of the Curiosity Rover mission as it works to reach its long-term goal of the Gediz Vallis Ridge. The article does not directly discuss the financial implications of the mission, and thus its relevance to the stock market is limited.
General Industry Analyst (8/10)
The article discusses the progress of the Curiosity Rover mission as it works to reach its long-term goal of the Gediz Vallis Ridge. The article provides insight into the Rover’s progress, which has implications for the general industry, as the Rover is a tool used to explore and analyze the surface of Mars. Additionally, the article’s content has implications for future research and development endeavors, as the Rover’s progress will affect the development of technology across a variety of industries.
Analyst Summary
:
The article discusses the progress of the Curiosity Rover mission as it works to reach its long-term goal of the Gediz Vallis Ridge. The article highlights the obstacles that the Rover has faced while trying to reach the ridge, and the science activities that the Rover will conduct to assess the ridge upon arrival. The article’s content is highly relevant to the defense industry, as the Curiosity Rover is a tool used by the US military to explore and analyze the surface of Mars. Additionally, the article’s content has implications for the general industry, as the Rover is a tool used to explore and analyze the surface of Mars, and its progress will affect the development of technology across a variety of industries. The article does not directly discuss the financial implications of the mission, and thus its relevance to the stock market is limited.
The development of the Curiosity Rover mission over the past 25 years has seen significant advancements in the exploration and analysis of the surface of Mars. In addition to the US militarys use of the Rover as a tool for defense research, the Rovers progress has implications for future research and development endeavors, as the Rover’s progress will affect the development of technology across a variety of industries.
Investigative
Question:
- 1. What are the implications of the Curiosity Rovers progress for the US militarys defense research?
- 2. How will the Rovers progress affect the development of technology across a variety of industries?
- 3.
Are there any financial implications of the Curiosity Rovers mission?4. What other long-term goals does the Curiosity Rover mission have?
5. What other obstacles will the Curiosity Rover mission face on its journey to the Gediz Vallis Ridge?
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