Mars Rover Curiosity in Artist's Concept, Close-up
This artist concept features NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover,
On Sol 35 of its mission on Mars (Sept. 10, 2012) Curiosity continued activities for characterizing its arm and the tools on the arm. The Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) completed a reading of the chemical ingredients in the instrument's calibration target. Then the arm moved the spectrometer away from the target and maneuvered to the arm's "ready out" position (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16147). The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument, mounted near the rear of the rover, was given commands for a nearly six-hour reading after the Mars-afternoon communications pass by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. DAN is used to check whether the ground under the rover holds hydrated minerals, which have water molecules or water-related ions bound into the mineral's crystalline structure.

Curiosity continues to work in good health. Sol 35, in Mars local mean solar time at Gale Crater, ended at 6:35 a.m. Sept. 11, PDT.

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