Curiosity rover reached out with robotic arm and drilled into ‘Lubango’ outcrop target on Sol 1320, Apr. 23, 2016, in this photo mosaic stitched from navcam camera raw images and colorized. Lubango is located in the Stimson unit on the lower slopes of Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater. MAHLI camera inset image shows drill hole up close on Sol 1321. Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo
NASA’s Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover successfully bored a brand new hole in Mars at a sandstone outcrop in the ‘Lubango’ fracture zone this past weekend on Sol 1320, Apr23, and is now carefully analyzing the shaken and sieved drill tailings for clues to Mars watery past atop the Naukluft Plateau.
“Lubango” counts as the 10th drilling campaign since the one ton rover safely touched down on Mars some 44 months ago inside the targeted Gale Crater landing site, following the ‘sky crane’ maneuver. After transferring the cored sample to the CHIMRA instrument for sieving it, a portion of the less than 0.15 mm filtered material was successfully delivered this week to the CheMin miniaturized chemistry lab situated in the rovers belly.
CheMin is now analyzing the sample and will return mineralogical data back to scientists on earth for interpretation.
The science team selected Lubango as the robots 10th drill target after determining that it was altered sandstone bedrock and had an unusually high silica content based on analyses carried out using the mast mounted ChemCam laser instrument.
Curiosity rover views ‘Lubango’ drill target up close in this MAHLI camera image taken on Sol 1321, Apr. 24, 2016, processed to enhance details. Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS
They determined the ChemCam and other data observation were encouraging enough – regarding how best to sample both altered and unaltered Stimson bedrock – to change course and drive backwards. Lubango sits along a fracture in an area that the team dubs the Stimson formation, which is located on the lower slopes of humongous Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater. Since early March, the rover has been traversing along a rugged region dubbed the Naukluft Plateau.”The team decided to drill near this fracture to better understand both the altered and unaltered Stimson bedrock,” noted Herkenhoff.
Curiosity images Naukluft Plateau in this photo mosaic stitched from Mastcam camera raw images taken on Sol1296. Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS
The team then commanded Curiosity to dump the unsieved portion of the sample onto the ground and examine the leftover drill tailing residues with the Mastcam, Navcam, MAHLI multispectral characterization cameras and the APXS spectrometer. ChemCam is also being used to fire laser shots in the wall of the drill hole to make additional chemical measurements.
To complement the data from Lubango, scientists are now looking around the area for a suitable target of unaltered Stimson bedrock as the 11th drill target. “The color information provided by Mastcam is really helpful in distinguishing altered versus unaltered bedrock,” explained MSL Lauren Edgar, Research Geologist.
Curiosity explores Red Planet paradise at Namib Dune during Christmas 2015 – backdropped by Mount Sharp. Curiosity took first ever self-portrait with Mastcam color camera after arriving at the lee face of Namib Dune. This photo mosaic shows a portion of the full self portrait and is stitched from Mastcam color camera raw images taken on Sol 1197, Dec. 19, 2015. Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS
The ChemCam laser has already shot at the spot dubbed “Oshikati,” a potential target for the next drilling campaign.
As time permits, the Navcam imager is also being used to search for dust devils. Opportunity recently detected a beautiful looking dust devil on the floor of Endeavour crater on April 1. Dust devil detections by the NASA rovers are relatively rare.
Spectacular Mastcam camera view of Gale Crater rim from Curiosity on Sol 1302 enhanced to bring out detail. Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS
The rover is almost finished crossing the Naukluft Plateau which is “the most rugged and difficult-to-navigate terrain encountered during the mission’s 44 months on Mars,” says NASA.
Prior to climbing onto the Naukluft Plateau the rover spent several weeks investigating sand dunes including the 2 story tall Namib dune. As of today, Sol 1325, April 28, 2016, Curiosity has driven over 7.9 miles since its August 2012 landing, and taken over 320,100 amazing images.
http://www.universetoday.com/128567/curiosity-cores-hole-in-mars-at-lubango-fracture-zone/
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