NASA’s Final Cloud Watch: Highlights from Sols 4434-4436

Date of Earth planning: Friday, January 24, 2025.

Fires continue to blaze in southern California, affecting many of us on our mission. From our location in San Diego, where we run the Mastcams, MAHLI, and MARDI, we can actually see the flames near the Mexican border. Fortunately, everyone here is safe and there’s no immediate danger. It’s a relief to focus on planning activities for Curiosity. We’ve got a full weekend program to help us momentarily escape the chaos of Earth. Our power levels are higher than expected, and we successfully drove about 29 meters (around 95 feet). Now, we can proceed to plan some contact science!

This weekend kicks off with a remote science block. The ChemCam will fire its laser at the “Beaudry” target, which is a uniquely fractured block. It will also capture a mosaic of an interesting capping unit on Wilkerson butte to the northwest. Following this, Mastcam will take about 120 images, capturing color for ChemCam’s targets. It will also photograph a layered block called “Mount Hollywood” and provide another view of the Rustic Canyon crater to look for ejecta materials.

After the remote science block, we’ll dive into our contact science activities, which will take place between 15:25 and 22:30 local Gale time. MAHLI and APXS will examine two areas: “Little Jimmy,” composed of smooth gray material, and “Acton,” a chippy conglomerate. Additionally, MAHLI plans to take some unique images of “Wildhorse,” a potential meteorite!

The next day will be calmer, concluding with another remote science block before we drive away. We’ll finish the day with a Mastcam cloud survey as twilight descends, aiming to capture those beautiful white noctilucent clouds before the season ends. Then we’ll have to wait another two Earth years for more opportunities like this. Fingers crossed for some lovely clouds here on Earth this weekend, too!

Written by Natalie Moore, Mission Operations Specialist at Malin Space Science Systems.

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