August 23, 2021
 Stratigraphic Layers!
 Written by Roger Wiens, Principal Investigator, SuperCam / Co-Investigator, SHERLOC instrument at Purdue University
The Navcam image shown on the left was taken from “Roubion” looking toward “Mure,” where strata were seen in the distance, particularly in the lower section of the rocks just right of center.

The Navcam image shown on the left was taken from “Roubion” looking toward “Mure,” where strata were seen in the distance, particularly in the lower section of the rocks just right of center. The white square indicates the field of view of the image on the right, a zoomed-in Mastcam-Z image of the “Mure” strata, the first layered rocks to be visited by Perseverance.  Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU. Left Image | Right Image

Let me introduce myself and tell you my impressions of the mission so far: I lead the SuperCam remote sensing instrument on Perseverance’s mast. Early this year I had a hard time tearing myself away from my previous Mars mission to focus on this one. I had high hopes for exploring the river delta features, but I was not sure that this early part of the mission would be earthshaking. From our cu...
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October 29, 2012
 Almost Ready for the Real Thing
 Written by Jeffrey Marlow
The Navcam image shown on the left was taken from “Roubion” looking toward “Mure,” where strata were seen in the distance, particularly in the lower section of the rocks just right of center.
Following an intensive period of soil scoop testing, Curiosity has begun to use its new capability to feed on-board scientific instruments samples from the martian surface. Recent scoop payload was distributed to the CheMin instrument for X-Ray Diffraction analysis, and the camera teams have been measuring grain size distributions. And now, the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument is gear...
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October 29, 2012
 Almost Ready for the Real Thing
 Written by Jeffrey Marlow
The Navcam image shown on the left was taken from “Roubion” looking toward “Mure,” where strata were seen in the distance, particularly in the lower section of the rocks just right of center.
Following an intensive period of soil scoop testing, Curiosity has begun to use its new capability to feed on-board scientific instruments samples from the martian surface. Recent scoop payload was distributed to the CheMin instrument for X-Ray Diffraction analysis, and the camera teams have been measuring grain size distributions. And now, the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument is gear...
Read more

September 01, 2012
 Last But Not Least
 Written by Jeffrey Marlow
The Navcam image shown on the left was taken from “Roubion” looking toward “Mure,” where strata were seen in the distance, particularly in the lower section of the rocks just right of center.
During the first four weeks of Curiosity's mission, all of the 10 scientific instruments have turned on and returned data from the martian surface. All of them, that is, except for one. While other instruments have received rounds of applause as the first viable data was returned ("I think this is a hoot-and-hollerin' moment!" mission managers would proclaim after each successful boot-up),...
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September 01, 2012
 Last But Not Least
 Written by Jeffrey Marlow
The Navcam image shown on the left was taken from “Roubion” looking toward “Mure,” where strata were seen in the distance, particularly in the lower section of the rocks just right of center.
During the first four weeks of Curiosity's mission, all of the 10 scientific instruments have turned on and returned data from the martian surface. All of them, that is, except for one. While other instruments have received rounds of applause as the first viable data was returned ("I think this is a hoot-and-hollerin' moment!" mission managers would proclaim after each successful boot-up),...
Read more

About This Blog

These blog updates are provided by the teams working on Mars missions.

Dates of planned test activities are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays, orbiter, helicopter and/or rover status.

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Contributors+

  • Adrian Brown
    Deputy Program Scientist, NASA HQ
  • Alyssa Deardorff
    Systems Engineer, NASA/JPL
  • An Li
    Student Collaborator on PIXL, University of Washington
  • Asier Munguira
    Ph.D. Student, University of the Basque Country
  • Athanasios Klidaras
    Ph.D. Student, Purdue University
  • Avi Okon
    Sampling Operations Deputy Lead, NASA/JPL
  • Bavani Kathir
    Student Collaborator on Mastcam-Z, Western Washington University
  • Ben Morrell
    Ingenuity Operations Engineer, NASA/JPL
  • Bob Balaram
    Chief Engineer for the Mars Helicopter Project, NASA/JPL
  • Brad Garczynski
    Student Collaborator, Purdue University
  • Claire Newman
    Atmospheric Scientist, Aeolis Research
  • David Agle
    Media Representative, NASA/JPL
  • David Pedersen
    Co-Investigator, PIXL Instrument, Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
  • Denise Buckner
    Student Collaborator, University of Florida
  • Eleanor Moreland
    Ph.D. Student, Rice University
  • Eleni Ravanis
    Student Collaborator, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
  • Elisha Jhoti
    Ph.D. Student, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Erin Gibbons
    Student Collaborator, McGill University
  • Forrest Meyen
    MOXIE Science Team Member, Lunar Outpost
  • Fred Calef III
    Mapping Specialist, NASA/JPL
  • Håvard Grip
    Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Chief Pilot, NASA/JPL
  • Iona (Brockie) Tirona
    Sampling Engineer, NASA/JPL
  • Jaakko Karras
    Ingenuity Chief Engineer, NASA/JPL
  • Jennifer Trosper
    Project Manager, NASA/JPL
  • Josh Ravich
    Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mechanical Engineering Lead, NASA/JPL
  • Joshua Anderson
    Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Operations Lead, NASA/JPL
  • Justin Maki
    Imaging Scientist and Mastcam-Z Deputy Principal Investigator, NASA/JPL
  • Kathryn Stack
    Deputy Project Scientist, NASA/JPL
  • Kenneth Farley
    Project Scientist, Caltech
  • Louise Jandura
    Chief Engineer for Sampling & Caching, NASA/JPL
  • Lydia Kivrak
    Student Collaborator, University of Florida
  • Mariah Baker
    Planetary Scientist, Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum
  • Martin Cacan
    Ingenuity Pilot, NASA/JPL
  • Matt Muszynski
    Vehicle Systems Engineer, NASA/JPL
  • Matthew Brand
    SuperCam/ChemCam Engineer, Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Michael Hecht
    Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) Principal Investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • MiMi Aung
    Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Project Manager, NASA/JPL
  • Pegah Pashai
    Vehicle Systems Engineer Lead, NASA/JPL
  • Phylindia Gant
    Mars 2020 Student Collaborator, University of Florida
  • Rachel Kronyak
    Systems Engineer, NASA/JPL
  • Rick Welch
    Deputy Project Manager, NASA/JPL
  • Roger Wiens
    Principal Investigator, SuperCam / Co-Investigator, SHERLOC instrument, Purdue University
  • Sarah Milkovich
    Assistant Science Manager, NASA/JPL
  • Sawyer Brooks
    Docking Systems Engineer, NASA/JPL
  • Stephanie Connell
    SuperCam, PhD Student, Purdue University
  • Steven Lee
    Perseverance Deputy Project Manager, NASA/JPL
  • Teddy Tzanetos
    Ingenuity Team Lead, NASA/JPL
  • Thirupathi Srinivasan
    Robotic Systems Engineer, NASA/JPL
  • Travis Brown
    Chief Engineer Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, NASA/JPL
  • Vandi Verma
    Chief Engineer for Robotic Operations, NASA/JPL
  • Vivian Sun
    Science Operations Systems Engineer, Staff Scientist, NASA/JPL