Curiosity’s Journey to the Naukluft Plateau: Highlights from Its First Two Sols

Monday’s blog post outlined the activities planned for Curiosity as it approached the Naukluft Plateau. The delay in posting was jokingly attributed to leap year. The plan for Monday included both driving and remote sensing tasks.

On the first sol, Curiosity’s priority was to acquire ChemCam and Mastcam observations of the target “Swartpunt” before continuing its journey towards the Naukluft Plateau. Post-drive imaging was also scheduled to prepare for future targeting and document the Murray formation along the route.

The second sol focused on a series of ChemCam calibration activities as well as a Navcam movie to monitor the atmosphere above Mount Sharp. Additionally, a large Mastcam mosaic was planned to be captured in order to study the stratigraphy exposed on the east side of the Naukluft Plateau.