Curiosity Blog, Sols 4702-4708: It’s Only Spooky Here on Earth Today!
By Susanne P. Schwenzer, Professor of Planetary Mineralogy at the Open University, UK
Date of the earthworks plan: Friday October 31, 2025
I’m writing this blog and it’s still daylight – and I can’t wait to take one of my favorite kids to trick-or-treat afterwards. This is a new feeling for me as I’m usually in the UK, which means my Curiosity shifts start in the late afternoon when everyone else has finished working. But for now, I’m in the United States (Houston, Texas), and it’s daylight, which is a nice change, especially today because I don’t have to hide from the interruptions of treats, but can instead hand out all the candy they can eat! I’m looking forward to it… but first, let’s see what Curiosity did this week!
You will have seen my colleague Bill’s blog, “Searching for Answers at Monte Grande”, about our analysis of the “Valle de la Luna” sample with CheMin and SAM EGA. This week we continued the SAM analysis of the 44th sample drilled, which always requires a lot of power, which leaves less room for other investigations. As a result, you may notice that there was less ChemCam and Mastcam activity. The rover also did not roll while the sample is still in the turret, ready to be delivered for upcoming SAM activities. However, Curiosity has now completed deliveries to CheMin and SAM, and the last action in Friday’s plan was to clean the remaining sample from the drill in preparation for leaving here in Monday’s plan.
In Monday’s plan, we will reposition the rover to get a very good look at the next potential drilling targets on the ridge. We’ve already been able to spot them in previous images and have a few candidates, but making a decision will require images of Monday’s parking position, as we are currently parked in a hollow and can’t really see what’s happening over the ridge.
That said, being stationary has always been a golden opportunity to observe wind action, and this week it made no difference as Mastcam examined the drill fines several times during the period we were stationary, to check the safety of MAHLI’s approach – and of course to use these images for atmospheric science as well. In addition, Mastcam took the opportunity to obtain a complete image of the entire area. There are several mosaics that document the near field, for example on the “Nazareth” target. At mid and far distance, Mastcam assembled a large mosaic on “Monte Grande” and “Ticaco” to document the various rocks of the surrounding ridge walls and beyond. There are so many interesting textures and weathering features, as well as dips and fractures, that the team will have fun analyzing them individually in detail, as well as their relationships to each other.
ChemCam studied the Valle de la Luna borehole and tailings at the usual cadence of post-drilling activities, and additionally studied the Nazareth target to understand how the block drilled by Curiosity might vary chemically. Another ChemCam target was “Pachica”, as the team observed many nodules in this target and we are interested in their chemical variability as well as in “Palpana”, a smoother block. Further investigations of the Valle de la Luna borehole with ChemCam are the “Anapia” and “Bandara” targets to further study the chemical diversity of the drill target block.
ChemCam Remote Micro Imager (RMI) observations were also taken in the near field and further away. In the near field, the RMI images document more detail of the Valle de la Luna borehole and its tailings, while further out, the Monte Grande Footwall is one of the RMI targets, alongside other details in the box ridges surrounding us. On Friday, the RMI was headed higher to continue imaging the yardang unit, which is one of our next long-term goals.
In addition to all the drilling and rock exploration, the atmosphere has also received attention. We have the usual cadence of environmental surveys, establishing our long-term record of pressure, temperature and humidity on Mars; and we observe atmospheric opacity, dust devil activities, and clouds. Of course, we are all looking forward to next week when we decide on the second drilling target in this area, this time on the ridge. Let’s see which block will be the most attractive, both from a scientific and technical point of view – we have a short list of candidates; Detailed images are for Monday’s plan. Meanwhile, we’ll enjoy treats here on Earth and our weekends while Curiosity finishes drilling activities at Valle de la Luna.
