Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Curiosity rover drills rock sample at Mount Sharp

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: February 28, 2015 at 2:10:26 PM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Curiosity rover drills rock sample at Mount Sharp

February 25, 2015
NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Drills at 'Telegraph Peak'
This hole, with a diameter slightly smaller than a U.S. dime, was drilled by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover into a rock target called "Telegraph Peak." Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
› Full image and caption
-- "Telegraph Peak" is third drilling site in outcrop at base of Mount Sharp
-- Choice of drilling site motivated by chemistry measurements
-- Mission heading through "Artist's Drive" and higher on Mount Sharp
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its drill on Tuesday, Feb. 24 to collect sample powder from inside a rock target called "Telegraph Peak." The target sits in the upper portion of "Pahrump Hills," an outcrop the mission has been investigating for five months.
The Pahrump Hills campaign previously drilled at two other sites. The outcrop is an exposure of bedrock that forms the basal layer of Mount Sharp. Curiosity's extended mission, which began last year after a two-year prime mission, is examing layers of this mountain that are expected to hold records of how ancient wet environments on Mars evolved into drier environments.
The rover team is planning to drive Curiosity away from Pahrump Hills in coming days, exiting through a narrow valley called "Artist's Drive," which will lead the rover along a strategically planned route higher on the basal layer of Mount Sharp.
The Telegraph Peak site was selected after the team discussed the large set of physical and chemical measurements acquired throughout the campaign. In particular, measurements of the chemistry of the Telegraph Peak site, using the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) on the rover's arm, motivated selection of this target for drilling before the departure from Pahrump Hills.
Compared to the chemistry of rocks and soils that Curiosity assessed before reaching Mount Sharp, the rocks of Pahrump Hills are relatively enriched in the element silicon in proportion to the amounts of the elements aluminum and magnesium. The latest drilling site exhibits that characteristic even more strongly than the earlier two, which were lower in the outcrop.
"When you graph the ratios of silica to magnesium and silica to aluminum, 'Telegraph Peak' is toward the end of the range we've seen," said Curiosity co-investigator Doug Ming, of NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston. "It's what you would expect if there has been some acidic leaching. We want to see what minerals are present where we found this chemistry."
The rock-powder sample from Telegraph Peak goes to the rover's internal Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument for identification of the minerals. After that analysis, the team may also choose to deliver sample material to Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite of laboratory instruments.
The sample-collection drilling at Telegraph Peak was the first in Curiosity's 30 months on Mars to be conducted without a preliminary "mini drill" test of the rock's suitability for drilling. The team judged full-depth drilling to be safe for the drill based on similarities of the target to the previous Pahrump Hills targets. The rover used a low-percussion-level drilling technique that it first used on the previous drilling target, "Mojave 2."
Curiosity reached the base of Mount Sharp after two years of examining other sites inside Gale Crater and driving toward the mountain at the crater's center.
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess ancient habitable environments and major changes in Martian environmental conditions. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover's APXS was provided by the Canadian Space Agency. CheMin was developed by NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Air Force Base, California, and SAM was developed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.
For more information about Curiosity, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/msl
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at:
http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity
http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity

Media Contact
Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6278
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

2015-069

Curiosity rover drills rock sample at Mount Sharp
28 February 2015 by Astronomy Now
This hole, with a diameter slightly smaller than a U.S. dime coin, was drilled by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover into a rock target called "Telegraph Peak," within the basal layer of Mount Sharp. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its drill on Tuesday, 24 February to collect sample powder from inside a rock target called "Telegraph Peak." The target sits in the upper portion of "Pahrump Hills," an outcrop the mission has been investigating for five months.
The Pahrump Hills campaign previously drilled at two other sites. The outcrop is an exposure of bedrock that forms the basal layer of Mount Sharp. Curiosity's extended mission, which began last year after a two-year prime mission, is examing layers of this mountain that are expected to hold records of how ancient wet environments on Mars evolved into drier environments.
The rover team is planning to drive Curiosity away from Pahrump Hills in coming days, exiting through a narrow valley called "Artist's Drive," which will lead the rover along a strategically planned route higher on the basal layer of Mount Sharp.
The Telegraph Peak site was selected after the team discussed the large set of physical and chemical measurements acquired throughout the campaign. In particular, measurements of the chemistry of the Telegraph Peak site, using the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) on the rover's arm, motivated selection of this target for drilling before the departure from Pahrump Hills.
Compared to the chemistry of rocks and soils that Curiosity assessed before reaching Mount Sharp, the rocks of Pahrump Hills are relatively enriched in the element silicon in proportion to the amounts of the elements aluminum and magnesium. The latest drilling site exhibits that characteristic even more strongly than the earlier two, which were lower in the outcrop.
"When you graph the ratios of silica to magnesium and silica to aluminum, 'Telegraph Peak' is toward the end of the range we've seen," said Curiosity co-investigator Doug Ming, of NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston. "It's what you would expect if there has been some acidic leaching. We want to see what minerals are present where we found this chemistry."
The rock-powder sample from Telegraph Peak goes to the rover's internal Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument for identification of the minerals. After that analysis, the team may also choose to deliver sample material to Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite of laboratory instruments.
The sample-collection drilling at Telegraph Peak was the first in Curiosity's 30 months on Mars to be conducted without a preliminary "mini drill" test of the rock's suitability for drilling. The team judged full-depth drilling to be safe for the drill based on similarities of the target to the previous Pahrump Hills targets. The rover used a low-percussion-level drilling technique that it first used on the previous drilling target, "Mojave 2."
Curiosity reached the base of Mount Sharp after two years of examining other sites inside Gale Crater and driving toward the mountain at the crater's centre.
© 2015 Pole Star Publications Ltd.

AmericaSpace
For a nation that explores
February 27th, 2015
Curiosity Snaps Expansive Selfie, Sets Next Drill Campaign
By Ken Kremer

This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the "Mojave" site, where its drill collected the mission's second taste of Mount Sharp. The scene combines dozens of images taken during January 2015 by the MAHLI camera at the end of the rover's robotic arm. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
See drill site photomosaics below
The car-sized Curiosity rover has snapped a sweeping selfie encompassing the spectacular alien terrain of the Red Planet, where she has spent the past five months wandering, exploring, and working to unravel the mysteries of the planet's past and assess ancient habitable environments.
This latest selfie from Curiosity was just released by NASA on Feb. 24 and taken during the last half of January at the majestic "Pahrump Hills" outcrop area on Mars. It shows a super wide-angle view around the "Mojave" site where she just conducted a second local area drilling operation for sample analysis by the rover's duo of on-board chemistry laboratories.
The annotated mosaic scene above shows the locations of both the "Pahrump Hills" drill site campaigns completed so far and a third one upcoming very soon. See below our exclusive photo mosaics showing the rover's deployed arm in action boring into Mars at those two drill sites.
The self-portrait was assembled from dozens and dozens of images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera located on the end of the rover's 7-foot-long (2.1-meter-long) robotic arm during January 2015. Therefore, the arm can't be included in the mosaic, just like when you are taking a hand-held selfie of yourself.
Prior to Mojave, Curiosity also snapped selfies at the "Rocknest," "John Klein," and "Windjana" sample-collection sites.
"Mojave 2" is the name of the rock target at the "Mojave" site where the vehicle took its second "bite" out of the base layer of the Martian mountain she is currently investigating and found that the Martian material has been altered by water that's a different flavor and more acidic than the first "bite."
The wide-field view gives a distinctly enhanced context of the current work location because it also includes the nearby site where Curiosity took that first "bite" out of "Pahrump Hills" at the "Confidence Hills" target during September 2014, as well as where she will take her third "bite" shortly at "Telegraph Peak."
NASA's Curiosity rover conducts fifth Martian sample drilling campaign at "Mojave 2" rock target in this composite photo mosaic from Sols 864 to 889. The mosaic shows the robotic arm deployed on Sol 889, Feb. 5, 2015 to the "Pink Cliffs" portion of the "Pahrump Hills" rock outcrop at the base of Mount Sharp, seen in the distance. Arm stowed at left. Navcam camera raw images stitched and colorized. Inset top right shows Curiosity imaged from Mars orbit by NASA's MRO spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo
The "Pahrump Hills" outcrop belongs to the bedrock exposure of the Murray formation that forms the basal geological layer at the base of Mount Sharp, at the center of Mars' Gale Crater.
The scene is beautifully backdropped by the upper portion of Mount Sharp and the eroded rim of Gale Crater.
Mount Sharp is comprised of sedimentary rock layers that record the history of ancient Martian environments and is the primary destination of the mission.
The mountain towers 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) into the Martian sky and dominates the center of the Gale Crater, where Curiosity safely touched down some 30 months ago in August 2012.
NASA's Curiosity rover scans around the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop from the "Mojave 2" rock drilling site on Sol 882, Jan. 29, 2015. Mount Sharp is seen in the distance in this composite photo mosaic. MAHLI camera raw images stitched. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com
"Compared with the earlier Curiosity selfies, we added extra frames for this one so we could see the rover in the context of the full Pahrump Hills campaign," said rover team member Kathryn Stack at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
"From the Mojave site, we could include every stop we've made during the campaign."
Most of the frames in the new mosaic were taken Jan. 14, 2015, during Sol 868. Additional frames of the Martian terrain were taken Jan. 29, 2015, during Sol 882, to expand the selfie scene on the left and right into a wider, more expansive panorama. Finally, the frames showing the "Mojave " drill holes were taken Jan. 31, 2015, during Sol 884.
Curiosity has been surveying the "Pahrump Hills" area around the base of Mount Sharp for over five months since arriving there last fall in search of scientifically interesting candidates for drilling to elucidate the history of habitability on Mars.
The first "bite" taken from the mountain base was at a nearby target called "Confidence Hills" during September 2014.
NASA's Curiosity rover conducts 4th drill campaign at 'Pahrump Hills' rock outcrop on Sol 759, Sept. 24, 2014, at the foothills of Mount Sharp seen in the distance. Navcam camera raw images stitched and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo
The rover then conducted a "walkabout" to scout the area for the best places to drill. During the walkabout, the rover climbed from the outcrop's base to higher sections three times to create vertical profiles of the rock structures and chemistry for determining the most scientifically productive spots for sample-collection drilling.
The second bite was carried out at a crystal-rich rock target named "Mojave 2" that lies in the "Pink Cliffs" portion of a outcrop called "Pahrump Hills," an exposure of the Murray formation that is the basal geological unit of Mount Sharp. The location is shown in another annotated scene below.
Curiosity bored the "Mojave 2" sample-collection hole on Sol 882 (Jan. 29) to a full depth of about 2.6 inches (6.5 centimeters). The rotary-percussive drill successfully cut a hole about 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter.
The rover always drills an initial mini-drill test hole to determine if the chosen rock target is indeed safe and suitable for full-depth sample collection drilling.
Therefore, two holes are visible in the new selfie as well as a post-drilling dump pile of leftover material not fed into the pair of on-board miniaturized chemistry labs in the rovers belly: CheMin and SAM.
An up-close view of both drill sites at "Confidence Hills" and "Mojave 2" is also shown in the navcam panoramas created by the imaging team of Ken Kremer and Marco Di Lorenzo.
This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the "Mojave" site, where its drill collected the mission's second taste of Mount Sharp. The scene combines dozens of images taken during January 2015 by the MAHLI camera at the end of the rover's robotic arm. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
So far Curiosity's odometer totals over 6.4 miles (10.3 kilometers) since landing inside Gale Crater on Mars in August 2012. She has taken some 218,000 images during over 900 Sols of exploration.
Meanwhile, older sister rover Opportunity just climbed to the summit of Cape Tribulation along Endeavour crater on the opposite side of Mars as she celebrated her astonishing 11th anniversary roving the Red Planet!
She captured breathtaking panoramas from the highest peak she will ever climb. See our mosaic created from raw images here.
Now, Opportunity is on the cusp of driving the distance of a marathon runner's race on Earth—detailed here.
Despite all those accomplishments, the White House is trying to "Kill Opportunity"—detailed here.
Stay tuned here for continuing updates from Mars and throughout our Solar System!
Ken Kremer

Want to keep up-to-date with all things space? Be sure to "Like" AmericaSpace on Facebook and follow us on Twitter: @AmericaSpace
This view shows the path and some key places in a survey of the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover in autumn of 2014. The outcrop is at the base of Mount Sharp within Gale Crater. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

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Curiosity Rover Drills into Mars Mountain Again (Photo)
by Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | February 27, 2015 07:45am ET

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity drilled this sample-collecting hole into a rock called Telegraph Peak on Feb. 24, 2015.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS View full size image
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has bored into rocks at the base of the towering Mount Sharp for the third time.
The car-size Curiosity rover drilled into a rock called Telegraph Peak on Tuesday (Feb. 24), collecting sample powder for analysis by its onboard instruments. The action marked the third drilling operation at an outcrop at the base of Mount Sharp called Pahrump Hills, which Curiosity reached in September 2014 after more than a year of driving.
Mission team members decided to drill Telegraph Peak after Curiosity's Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer instrument detected some interesting chemistry in the rock, NASA officials said.
"When you graph the ratios of silica to magnesium and silica to aluminum, Telegraph Peak is toward the end of the range we've seen," Curiosity co-investigator Doug Ming, of NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a statement. "It's what you would expect if there has been some acidic leaching. We want to see what minerals are present where we found this chemistry."
Curiosity — the centerpiece of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission — touched down in August 2012 to investigate whether or not the Red Planet has ever been capable of supporting microbial life. The rover returned exciting results early on; work near its landing site revealed that the area was a habitable lake-and-stream system billions of years ago.
The rover's long stay at Pahrump Hills is coming to an end. Curiosity's handlers plan to send the six-wheeled robot away from the outcrop soon, toward rock deposits higher up in Mount Sharp's foothills, NASA officials said.But Curiosity's main destination has always been Mount Sharp, which rises more than 3 miles (5 kilometers) into the Martian sky. Mission scientists want Curiosity to climb up through the mountain's lower reaches, reading a history of the planet's changing environmental conditions in the rocks as it goes.

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