{"id":11048,"date":"2024-05-29T12:02:44","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T16:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/sols-4199-4201-driving-through-a-puzzle\/"},"modified":"2024-05-29T12:02:44","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T16:02:44","slug":"sols-4199-4201-driving-through-a-puzzle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/sols-4199-4201-driving-through-a-puzzle\/","title":{"rendered":"Sols 4199-4201: Driving Through a Puzzle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sols 4199-4201: Driving Through a Puzzle<\/h2>\n

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2 min read<\/p>\n

Sols 4199-4201: Driving Through a Puzzle<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA\u2019s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4197 (2024-05-27 11:31:12 UTC).<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Earth planning date: Tuesday, May 28, 2024<\/p>\n

For the last several months, Curiosity has been steadily climbing through the bedrock layers of the upper sulfate unit. While each stop had its own collection of bedrock blocks tilting one way or another, you could imagine putting each scene back together into one coherent package of layers, undoing the work that erosion and time had wrought. In Curiosity\u2019s current location, Gediz Vallis, the puzzle is not so neatly put back together. The valley floor is a jumble of different rock types, as is the ridge that fills the valley, and the rocks are like the pieces you find when you open up a puzzle: different colors and different shapes that as a whole yield a larger picture. Curiosity\u2019s task in today\u2019s plan was to start sorting through the puzzle pieces to continue constructing the larger picture, or geologic history, of Gediz Vallis.<\/p>\n

We found individual smooth white pieces at \u201cHidden Lakes\u201d and \u201cReggae Pole,\u201d a smooth gray piece at \u201cRixford Pass,\u201d and a dark gray, rough piece at \u201cGarnet Lake.\u201d \u201cBarrett Lakes\u201d was made up of gray, pale orange, and white pieces, as was \u201cVennacher Needle,\u201d although the latter appear to have a pattern in the distribution of the pieces. We also acquired numerous mosaics across the wider scene to grab a record of as many pieces as possible. Most notably, we imaged the next big piece we plan to visit in this plan\u2019s drive, \u201cWhitebark Pass.\u201d It has the same variety of colors that Barrett Lakes and Vennacher Needle do, but the pieces are in more orderly proximity to one another, making it easier to figure out the bigger picture.<\/p>\n

We did not just spend time looking at complicated rock jumbles. We added observations of dust loading, dust devils, and clouds to capture the chaotic-in-its-own-way atmosphere. REMS, RAD, and DAN measurements occur regularly in the plan, and we dedicated imaging time to the orderly layers of the \u201cKukenan\u201d butte \u2013 a Martian puzzle, albeit a slightly easier one to put together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Written by Michelle Minitti, Planetary Geologist at Framework<\/p>\n

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