Sols 4366–4367: One of Those Days on Mars (Sulfate-Bearing Unit to the West of Upper Gediz Vallis)

Earth planning date: Friday, Nov. 15, 2024

The Monday plan and drive had executed successfully, so the team had high hopes for APXS and MAHLI data on several enticing targets in the rover’s workspace. Alas, it was not to be: The challenging terrain had resulted in an awkwardly perched wheel at the end of the drive, so we couldn’t risk deploying the arm from this position. Maybe next drive!

We did plan a busy weekend of non-arm science activities regardless. Due to a “soliday” the weekend has two sols instead of three, but we had enough power available to fit in more than three hours of observations. The two LIBS observations in the plan will measure the composition of the flat, reddish material in the workspace that is fractured in a polygonal pattern (“Bloody Canyon”) and a nearby rock coating in which the composition is suspected to change with depth (“Burnt Camp Creek”). One idea is that the reddish material could be the early stage version of the thicker dark coatings we’ve been seeing.

A large Mastcam mosaic (“Yosemite”) was planned to capture the very interesting view to the rover’s north. Nearby and below the rover is the layer of rocks in which the “Mineral King” site was drilled on the opposite side of the channel back in March. This is a stratum of sulfate-bearing rock that appears dark-toned from orbit and we’re interested to know how consistent its features are from one side of the channel to the other. Higher up, the Yosemite mosaic also captures some deformation features that may reveal past water activity, and some terrain associated with the Gediz Vallis ridge. So there’s a lot of science packed into one mosaic!

Two long-distance RMI mosaics were planned; one is to image back into the channel, where there may be evidence of a late-stage debris flow at the base of the ridge. The second looks “forward” from the rover’s perspective instead, into the wind-shaped yardang unit above us that will hopefully be explored close-up in the rover’s future. This yardang mosaic is intended to form one part of a stereo observation.

The modern environment on Mars will also be observed with dust devil surveys on both sols, line-of-sight and tau observations to measure atmospheric opacity (often increased by dust in the atmosphere), and zenith and suprahorizon movies with Navcam to look for clouds. There will also be standard passive observations of the rover’s environment by REMS and DAN.

We’ll continue driving westward and upward, rounding the Texoli butte to keep climbing through the sulfate-bearing unit. It’s not always easy driving but there’s a lot more science to do!

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

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Part Ojibwe, All NASA: Linda Spuler’s Role in Protecting Johnson Space Center 

Linda Spuler, emergency manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, believes that everyone has a story. “Our stories highlight what we have in common, but they also make us each unique,” she said. 

Spuler has worked at Johnson for over 32 years, spending most of her career in Center Operations. Her story has involved helping to coordinate emergency response teams at Johnson in preparation for natural disasters. “Since Johnson is situated on the coast, a good portion of my job revolves around planning for hurricanes,” she said.   

Spuler has dealt with natural disasters at Johnson from Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 to Hurricane Beryl in 2024, but none had a greater personal impact than Hurricane Ike, which wrought havoc in Texas in September 2008. “Participating in the response to Hurricane Ike was a proud moment for me,” she said. “We worked from sunup to sundown restoring the center. Civil servants and contractors from various organizations came together, and for those two weeks, our differences didn’t matter.”  

Spuler believes that NASA’s mission unites everyone – team members, astronauts, and support teams alike. “Remembering why we are all here energizes us and gets us excited about working for NASA,” she said.  

Spuler’s journey at NASA began as a dream not originally her own. Her path was shaped by the aspirations of her mother, who was born on an Ojibwe (Chippewa) reservation in Ashland, Wisconsin.  

“Although my grandmother lived in Chicago, she returned to the reservation to have her children. My mom is still a voting member of the Bad River Tribe,” said Spuler. 

“My mom was studying aerospace engineering at the University of Chicago when she met my dad, a fun-loving electrical engineering major who traced his lineage back to Davy Crockett on his father’s side and Ireland on his mother’s,” said Spuler. “She chose to abandon aerospace to marry my dad, whose degree and love for space brought him to work at Johnson.” 

Spuler said her mother was very proud that her father worked for NASA. “She was very happy when I chose to work here, too,” she said. “She taught me the value and reward of working hard. My mom is proud of her heritage but she is cautious of sharing her story.” 

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NASA to Provide Coverage of Progress 90 Launch, Space Station Docking

NASA will provide live launch and docking coverage of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft delivering nearly three tons of food, fuel, and supplies to the Expedition 72 crew aboard the International Space Station.

The unpiloted Progress 90 spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 7:22 a.m. EST (5:22 p.m. Baikonur time) Thursday, Nov. 21, on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Live launch coverage will begin at 7 a.m. on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

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The spacecraft will remain docked at the station for approximately six months before departing for a re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology, and human innovation that enables research not possible on Earth. For more than 24 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory, through which astronauts have learned to live and work in space for extended periods of time. The space station is a springboard for developing a low Earth economy and NASA’s next great leaps in exploration, including missions to the Moon under Artemis and, ultimately, human exploration of Mars.

Get breaking news, images and features from the space station on Instagram, Facebook, and X.

Learn more about the International Space Station, its research, and its crew, at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

-end-

Claire O’Shea / Josh Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov / joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov

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Jessica Taveau

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November Transformer of the Month: Ariel Vargas

When Ariel Vargas joined NASA in 2023, he knew he wanted to make an impact. Despite his relatively short tenure, he has earned the reputation of a Digital Transformer in his work as a Network and ICAM (Identity, Credential, and Access Management) Service Integrator at Johnson Space Center (JSC). No matter the task at hand, Ariel is motivated by measurable transformation. “I wanted to have my fingerprint on something no matter what it was, big or small. To be able to see an impact,” he says. “And a lot of the things that I’m doing, both within my role and within Digital Transformation, I can see really flourishing already.”  

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Network and ICAM (Identity, Credential, and Access Management) Service Integrator at Johnson Space Center (JSC)

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