Curiosity Blog, Sols 4611-4613: Scenic Overlook

Written by Lucy Lim, Planetary Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Earth planning date: Friday, July 25, 2025

A 23-meter drive (about 75 feet) brought Curiosity to today’s planned “look-about” spot. The highlight of the plan will be the 360-degree Mastcam panorama that will document the ridge-and-hollow topography of the boxwork-forming unit we’ve been exploring, in addition to overlying stratigraphy in some of the nearby buttes. The right-angle ridge pattern is quite prominent in the HiRISE orbital imaging, which enabled us to plan for this stop. It has been 70 sols since the last panorama, and the rover has driven quite some distance in that time!

Additional detailed imaging was planned with the ChemCam remote imager (RMI) and Mastcam high-resolution M100: mosaics will cover the exposed strata underneath the ridge we’re planning to drive on (“Arequipa Airport”), two linear fractures, one parallel to the large ridge and one cross-cutting it (“Laguna de Salinas” and “Laguna Santa Rosa”), some troughs around a nearby light-toned float block (“Arubai”), and the Uyuni butte in the middle distance.

The bedrock texture here was a noticeable change from the previous workspace, with a knobbly oriented texture interspersed occasionally with platier exposures. Geochemical measurements were planned with the ChemCam LIBS to complement the auto-targeted post-drive AEGIS measurement: “La Coca” on a block that appeared to show unusual colors, and “El Algodón” on a knobbly textured chunk of bedrock. APXS geochemistry was planned with dust removal on the “Yura Tuff” knobbly target and without dust removal on the “Tipnis” target. MAHLI will also provide close-up imaging on the two APXS targets.

For the modern Martian environment, it’s still the cloudy season at Gale so we are planning several cloud-related activities. The Mastcam sky survey will measure abundances of atmospheric dust and water ice, whereas a special cloud altitude observation will include video of clouds and their shadows so that the altitudes and velocities of the clouds and related winds can be calculated. A separate short movie will search for dust lifting (dust devil) activity. Finally, the usual passive REMS and DAN observations will monitor the temperature, humidity, and neutron environment at Curiosity’s current location.

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Join Second Lady Usha Vance as She Reads to Children at NASA Johnson

As part of her Summer Reading Challenge, Second Lady Usha Vance will host an event for children in grades K-8 on Monday, Aug. 4, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Media are invited.

NASA astronaut Suni Williams will join Ms. Vance to read a space-related book to children and participate in other space-related activities.

Live coverage of the reading will stream about 2:45 p.m. EDT on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

U.S. media interested in participating in this event must RSVP to NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens at: bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov, as well as Office of the Second Lady Communications Director Nicole Reeves at: nicole.e.reeves@ovp.eop.gov. Requests must be made no later than 1 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 31. Confirmed media will receive additional details from NASA. The agency’s media accreditation policy is online.

Through her reading challenge, the Second Lady is encouraging youth to seek adventure, imagination, and discovery between the pages of a book. Students interested in participating in the challenge must read 12 books by Friday, Sept. 5. Additional details, including where to download a reading log, and how to submit it to the White House, are available online.

As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars, inspiring Golden Age explorers, and ensuring the United States continues to lead in space exploration and discovery.

Learn more about NASA missions online at:

https://www.nasa.gov

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Bethany Stevens / Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov

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Ames Exchange Lodging Info

On-Site Lodging at Ames

The Exchange at Ames operates a variety of lodging options, right on center.

If you’re visiting Ames for an extended period, you’ll need lodging that’s in the area, and affordable. This article will go over the lodging options that we have on-center.

Who May Stay?
Personnel in the following categories are considered eligible:

• APPEL course participants
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Making A Reservation

Please contact the front desk for all inquiries.

Business Hours: Monday – Friday, 8:30am – 4:00pm

Phone: (650) 604-8100

Email:  info@nasalodge.com

Check-In: 3:00 PM   (Contactless check-in is available after business hours.)
Check-Out: 11:00 AM

All reservations require an email address and a cell phone number. Credit card information is required prior to check-in by calling the front desk. Cancellations or changes must be done at least 24 hours prior to check-in via email at info@nasalodge.com or calling the front desk at (650) 604-8100. If you fail to cancel your reservation, you will be charged for one night’s stay.

Building 19 Premium King Room

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Building 19- Standard Queen Room

• 20 Remodeled Queen Rooms
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Buildings 583 A & B Dorms

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Silicon Valley Event Center – Parking Information

Where to Park at the Event Center

We have event spaces in multiple buildings. See below for details.

At the main Event Center in building 3, at the front of the building (East side) there is a large lot with standard and accessible spaces. This is the best place to park as it affords the easiest access to the entry doors, which have an ADA accessible ramp. At the rear of the building, there is a secondary large over-flow lot. As this is on the back side of the building, you will need to walk all the way around to enter through the main entrance, or make arrangements to enter through the ADA accessible doors at the rear of the building.

Inside the NASA security fence, at building N232 and the N201 Syverston Auditorium, there is very little parking available and it is first-come first-serve. We highly recommend walking or carpooling to these locations if you are attending an event in either of them

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