Written by Lucy Lim, Planetary Scientist at NASA’s Goddard House Flight Heart
Earth planning date: Friday, Oct. 16, 2026
Following the Basque Lakes drill marketing campaign, Curiosity has returned to a spot just some meters away from the “Chiu Chiu” block to conduct our subsequent drill marketing campaign. “Chiu Chiu” itself wasn’t a superb candidate for drilling however the block simply past it was far more promising, so it turned our drive goal throughout Monday’s planning. I used to be on planning Friday as Geology and Mineralogy Science Theme Lead after we acquired our close-up views of the neighbor block from the post-drive imaging and our group was blissful to see that it was jam-packed with the “disc- and needle-” formed lumps, identical to “Chiu Chiu.” We shortly gave the science go-ahead to proceed with preparations for drilling on the newly named “Nazca” website.
One main speculation about how the “discs and needles” texture fashioned is that the attribute shapes have been initially created throughout the progress of crystals, or “crystal kinds.” Minerals will are likely to develop into particular shapes relying on their microscopic crystal construction, just like the salt crystals you could develop in your kitchen as a house science challenge. (Perhaps you will have grown a type of for a science class in class!) The comparatively giant sizes of the crystal kinds at “Nazca” and “Chiu Chiu” are offering clues in regards to the temperature on the time after they grew and the supply of salts and fluids. Nonetheless, we won’t essentially assume that the modern-day composition represents the unique mineral as a result of generally mineral crystals are changed by different minerals a while after unique crystallization. The brand new minerals are then often called “pseudomorphs” as a result of they’ve the identical form as the primary minerals however not the identical composition or molecular construction.
As we ready for the drill preload check, we additionally deliberate a number of particular observations geared toward extremely detailed characterization of the crystal kinds. MAHLI will execute a Quantitative Aid Mannequin (“QRM”) statement consisting of 5 overlapping pictures at barely completely different geometries. The mixture of those will allow an in depth three-dimensional reduction mannequin to be constructed. As well as, MAHLI will even add additional frames to its highest-resolution imaging by doubling the variety of focus mechanism steps. Collectively, these observations will enhance the decision of the 3D fashions we may have of the crystal kinds.
In the meantime, the ChemCam LIBS will conduct a “depth profile” experiment to acquire compositional data from barely deeper layers inside a close-by crystal-form-rich goal, “Toucan”. Usually the 150 LIBS laser photographs from every sol’s statement are spaced out over a five-point raster at 30 photographs per level, however this time we’re concentrating all 150 laser photographs on the identical spot on the rock. Since every laser shot vaporizes a really small quantity of the rock to kind a plasma, the 150-shot profile ought to penetrate roughly 5 occasions deeper than a traditional 30-shot level statement. We are going to thus have the ability to observe the composition deeper contained in the uncovered crystal kind and see whether or not it is completely different from the surface-level composition. There are a number of causes this may very well be the case together with publicity of the floor to the fashionable Martian surroundings and in addition the circumstances wherein the crystal kind developed initially, so it is an experiment price pursuing.
The LIBS, DRT and APXS will even be utilized to the “Nazca” spot earlier than the preload check to characterize its floor composition as totally as potential earlier than drilling. The third LIBS of the plan will go to “Condor,” a close-by block wherein a finely layered texture is uncovered.
We additionally continued to watch the fashionable Martian surroundings as twilight cloud season begins. On this plan we included some nighttime imaging of the bigger and brighter of Mars’ two satellites, Phobos. Capturing pictures of Phobos and the close by sky when Phobos is full can present daylight reflecting off the moon and scattering within the Martian environment, offering a great way to estimate the particle sizes within the Martian clouds. We are able to do comparable measurements generally with photo voltaic observations, however the Phobos knowledge permit us to measure cloud particle sizes later within the evening. We anticipate to be measuring high-altitude carbon dioxide (CO2) clouds on this statement.