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Curiosity Adds Reverse Driving for Wheel Protection
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Map of Recent and Planned Driving by Curiosity as of Feb. 18, 2014
This map shows the route driven and route planned for NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from before reaching "Dingo Gap" -- in upper right -- to the mission's next science waypoint, "Kimberley" (formerly referred to as "KMS-9") -- in lower left. The point labeled 547 on the route is where Curiosity finished a drive of 319 feet (100.3 meters) on the 547th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Feb. 18, 2014). The map's line to that point is the path actually traveled; the yellow line past that is a planned route.
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Curiosity's Traverse Map Through Sol 546
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity through the 546 Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (February 18, 2014).
Numbering of the dots along the line indicate the sol number of each drive. North is up. The scale bar is 500 meters (1640.42 feet). From Sol 545 to Sol 546, Curiosity had driven a straight line distance of about 3.97 feet (1.21 meters).
The base image from the map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera (HiRISE) in NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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Terrain that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is now crossing is as smooth as team members had anticipated based on earlier images from orbit.
On Tuesday, Feb. 18, the rover covered 329 feet (100.3 meters), the mission's first long trek that used reverse driving and its farthest one-day advance of any kind in more than three months.
The reverse drive validated feasibility of a technique developed with testing on Earth to lessen damage to Curiosity's wheels when driving over terrain studded with sharp rocks. However, Tuesday's drive took the rover over more benign ground.
"We wanted to have backwards driving in our validated toolkit because there will be parts of our route that will be more challenging," said Curiosity Project Manager Jim Erickson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
The rover team used images taken from orbit to reassess possible routes, after detecting in late 2013 that holes in the vehicle's aluminum wheels were accumulating faster than anticipated. Getting to the chosen route, which appeared to be less hazardous for the wheels, required crossing a 3-foot-tall (1-meter-tall) dune. Curiosity crossed the dune on Feb. 9.
Erickson said, "After we got over the dune, we began driving in terrain that looks like what we expected based on the orbital data. There are fewer sharp rocks, many of them are loose, and in most places there's a little bit of sand cushioning the vehicle."
The mission's destinations remain the same: a science waypoint first and then the long-term goal of investigating the lower slopes of Mount Sharp, where water-related minerals have been detected from orbit.
The science waypoint, which may be where Curiosity next uses its sample-collecting drill, is an intersection of different rock layers about two-thirds of a mile (about 1.1 kilometers) ahead on the planned route. This location, formerly called KMS-9 from when it was one of many waypoint candidates, is now called "Kimberley," for the geological mapping quadrant that contains it. The mapping quadrant was named for the northwestern Australia region with very old rocks.
While the rover is headed for the Kimberley waypoint and during the time it spends doing science investigations there, the team will use orbital imagery to choose a path for continuing toward the long-term destination.
"We have changed our focus to look at the big picture for getting to the slopes of Mount Sharp, assessing different potential routes and different entry points to the destination area," Erickson said. "No route will be perfect; we need to figure out the best of the imperfect ones."
Curiosity has driven 937 feet (285.5 meters) since the Feb. 9 dune-crossing, for a total odometry of 3.24 miles (5.21 kilometers) since its August 2012 landing.
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Curiosity Mars Rover's Shadow After Long Backward Drive
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover caught its own shadow in this image taken just after completing a drive of 329 feet (100.3 meters) on the 547th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Feb. 18, 2014). The drive was the mission's first use of driving backward for more than short-distance positioning. Techniques for long drives in reverse with Curiosity have been developed with testing on Earth as one way to reduce wear and tear to the rover's aluminum wheels when crossing terrain with sharp rocks. The Sol 547 drive made first use of the technique on smoother terrain. The ground the rover crossed is relatively free of sharp rocks. It has some linear patterns in the ground, as evident in the parallel features slanting from lower left toward upper right in this image.
The image was taken with the left-eye camera of Curiosity's stereo Navigation Camera (Navcam).
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Curiosity Mars Rover's Shadow After Long Backward Drive
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover caught its own shadow in this image taken just after completing a drive of 329 feet (100.3 meters) on the 547th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Feb. 18, 2014). The drive was the mission's first use of driving backward for more than short-distance positioning. Techniques for long drives in reverse with Curiosity have been developed with testing on Earth as one way to reduce wear and tear to the rover's aluminum wheels when crossing terrain with sharp rocks. The Sol 547 drive made first use of the technique on smoother terrain. The ground the rover crossed is relatively free of sharp rocks. It has some linear patterns in the ground, as evident in the parallel features slanting from lower left toward upper right in this image.
The image was taken with the left-eye camera of Curiosity's stereo Navigation Camera (Navcam).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Left (MAST_LEFT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-09 22:35:47 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Left (MAST_LEFT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-09 22:36:47 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Left (MAST_LEFT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-09 22:37:34 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Left (MAST_LEFT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-09 22:38:00 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Left (MAST_LEFT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-10 00:44:39 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Left (MAST_LEFT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-10 00:48:40 UTC).
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This image was taken by Navcam: Right B (NAV_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-09 22:18:40 UTC).
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This image was taken by Navcam: Right B (NAV_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-10 00:38:34 UTC).
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This image was taken by Navcam: Right B (NAV_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-10 00:42:10 UTC).
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This image was taken by Navcam: Left B (NAV_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-09 20:27:24 UTC).
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This image was taken by Navcam: Left B (NAV_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-09 22:57:40 UTC).
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This image was taken by Navcam: Left B (NAV_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-10 00:39:36 UTC).
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This image was taken by Rear Hazcam: Right B (RHAZ_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-09 22:03:32 UTC).
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This image was taken by Rear Hazcam: Left B (RHAZ_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-09 22:56:48 UTC).
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This image was taken by Front Hazcam: Left B (FHAZ_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-09 22:56:21 UTC).
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This image was taken by Front Hazcam: Left B (FHAZ_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 538 (2014-02-10 00:35:32 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Left (MAST_LEFT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 539 (2014-02-10 22:57:29 UTC).
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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm, on February 10, 2014, Sol 539 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 23:10:10 UTC.
When this image was obtained, the focus motor count position was 12552. This number indicates the internal position of the MAHLI lens at the time the image was acquired. This count also tells whether the dust cover was open or closed. Values between 0 and 6000 mean the dust cover was closed; values between 12500 and 16000 occur when the cover is open. For close-up images, the motor count can in some cases be used to estimate the distance between the MAHLI lens and target. For example, in-focus images obtained with the dust cover open for which the lens was 2.5 cm from the target have a motor count near 15270. If the lens is 5 cm from the target, the motor count is near 14360; if 7 cm, 13980; 10 cm, 13635; 15 cm, 13325; 20 cm, 13155; 25 cm, 13050; 30 cm, 12970. These correspond to image scales, in micrometers per pixel, of about 16, 25, 32, 42, 60, 77, 95, and 113.
Most images acquired by MAHLI in daylight use the sun as an illumination source. However, in some cases, MAHLI's two groups of white light LEDs and one group of longwave ultraviolet (UV) LEDs might be used to illuminate targets. When Curiosity acquired this image, the group 1 white light LEDs were off, the group 2 white light LEDs were off, and the ultraviolet (UV) LEDS were off.
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This image was taken by Navcam: Right B (NAV_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 539 (2014-02-10 23:05:45 UTC).
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This image was taken by Navcam: Right B (NAV_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 539 (2014-02-10 23:04:47 UTC).
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This image was taken by Navcam: Right B (NAV_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 539 (2014-02-10 23:06:16 UTC).
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This image was taken by Navcam: Left B (NAV_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 539 (2014-02-10 23:03:24 UTC).
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This image was taken by Rear Hazcam: Left B (RHAZ_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 539 (2014-02-10 22:50:16 UTC).
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This image was taken by Front Hazcam: Right B (FHAZ_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 539 (2014-02-10 22:49:42 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Right (MAST_RIGHT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-11 21:55:25 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Right (MAST_RIGHT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-11 22:01:12 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Right (MAST_RIGHT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-11 22:02:54 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Right (MAST_RIGHT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-11 22:03:25 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Right (MAST_RIGHT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-11 22:03:42 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Right (MAST_RIGHT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-11 22:06:35 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Right (MAST_RIGHT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-11 22:12:30 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Right (MAST_RIGHT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-11 22:14:01 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Left (MAST_LEFT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-11 22:16:10 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Right (MAST_RIGHT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-11 22:16:29 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Right (MAST_RIGHT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-11 22:20:01 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Right (MAST_RIGHT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-11 22:23:55 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Left (MAST_LEFT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-12 01:33:37 UTC).
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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm, on February 11, 2014, Sol 540 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 23:42:35 UTC.
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This image was taken by Navcam: Right B (NAV_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-12 01:39:04 UTC).
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This image was taken by Navcam: Left B (NAV_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-12 01:36:40 UTC).
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This image was taken by Front Hazcam: Right B (FHAZ_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-12 00:09:53 UTC).
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This image was taken by Front Hazcam: Left B (FHAZ_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 540 (2014-02-12 00:17:34 UTC).
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This image was taken by Front Hazcam: Left B (FHAZ_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 541 (2014-02-13 01:44:03 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Right (MAST_RIGHT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 542 (2014-02-14 00:23:52 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Left (MAST_LEFT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 542 (2014-02-14 02:25:27 UTC).
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This image was taken by Front Hazcam: Left B (FHAZ_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 542 (2014-02-14 01:27:20 UTC).
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This image was taken by Navcam: Right B (NAV_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 543 (2014-02-15 01:38:04 UTC).
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This image was taken by Navcam: Right B (NAV_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 543 (2014-02-15 01:39:59 UTC).
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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm, on February 16, 2014, Sol 544 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 02:03:13 UTC.
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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm, on February 16, 2014, Sol 544 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 02:31:50 UTC.
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This image was taken by Navcam: Right B (NAV_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 544 (2014-02-16 02:00:46 UTC).
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This image was taken by Front Hazcam: Left B (FHAZ_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 544 (2014-02-16 02:12:34 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Left (MAST_LEFT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 545 (2014-02-17 04:53:02 UTC).
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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm, on February 17, 2014, Sol 545 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 04:57:12 UTC.
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This image was taken by Navcam: Right B (NAV_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 545 (2014-02-17 04:59:54 UTC).
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This image was taken by Navcam: Right B (NAV_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 545 (2014-02-17 05:02:50 UTC).
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This image was taken by Rear Hazcam: Left B (RHAZ_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 545 (2014-02-17 03:22:14 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Right (MAST_RIGHT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 546 (2014-02-18 05:01:55 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Left (MAST_LEFT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 546 (2014-02-18 05:06:11 UTC).
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This image was taken by Mastcam: Left (MAST_LEFT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 546 (2014-02-18 05:06:44 UTC).
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This image was taken by Navcam: Right B (NAV_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 546 (2014-02-18 04:59:53 UTC).
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This image was taken by Rear Hazcam: Right B (RHAZ_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 546 (2014-02-18 04:57:26 UTC).
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Fotos: NASA
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