In this episode, Curiosity has an issue with its memory,
stares at clouds in the sky and witnesses a Martian eclipse.
Curiosity is still in the lower Vera Rubin Ridge area, at an
important place called Pettegrove Point . The rover has been drilling at this spot for
a long time but has failed to reach the desired depth. Sadly, the rock is too hard to penetrate.
Incidents like this cost a lot of time and energy.
Going forwards, the engineers at NASA decide to drill only at spots that meet two criteria:
One - did the surface scratch the bristles of the dust remover tool?
And Two - are the calcium sulfate veins properly exposed after brushing?
If it s a yes to both these questions,
it s a strong signal for the rover to attempt a drill sample.
The next day, on Sol 2122, the rover attempts again; this time at a place
called Ailsa Craig. As a test, the dust removal tool tries to brush off the top sediments.
Again, the drilling is a disaster. Despite the veins being somewhat exposed, the drill hole
isn t deep enough for a full sample. This is now two unsuccessful drill attempts back to back.
On Sol 2136, the team orders the rover to try drilling one last time at Pettegrove Point,
at a site called Stoer. Stoer checks both the boxes:
the brush bristles are slightly battered and the veins of the rock are adequately exposed.
Finally, the rover succeeds in drilling a 46-millimetre deep hole. This hole has
produced enough rock powder to be fed as a sample to the rover s onboard laboratory.
Before packing up, Curiosity takes several observations with its ChemCam and Mastcam
and sends the data back to earth for analysis. If the wind subsides,
the rover will drop the samples on to its lab inlet.
Pleased with its work around Vera Rubin Ridge, Curiosity takes a panorama. The sky is still
hazy from the subsiding global dust storm, and a layer of dust can be seen on the rover itself.
On Sol 2138, Curiosity captures an image that surprises the team.
A small object is seen that looks completely different from the surrounding terrain.
It s immediately labelled as Foreign Object Debris, and raises an alarm throughout the
scientific community. While everyone speculates that this could be spacecraft debris, or worse,
a piece of Curiosity itself, the rover s ChemCam results, however, dismiss both.
It is nothing but a thin flake of Martian rock.
On Sol 2172, Curiosity suddenly stops sending a big chunk of its data to earth.
It can only send data when it is connected live to the earth stations or the Mars orbiters.
The team at NASA believe Curiosity has a problem with its memory.
The rover normally stores data onboard until it reconnects with Earth or Mars Relay Orbiters,
then it offloads all its precious stored data. The rover is currently failing to store anything.
Due to the limited information coming from the rover,
the team struggles to diagnose the issue. Luckily, Curiosity has 2 computers on board,
side A and side B. However, if you remember, the team has already switched over to the B
side due to corrupted memory on the A side, almost 2000 Sols ago.
They take the drastic decision to return to the A side. It has much less memory than B
side had when it worked correctly, but it ll help them diagnose the issue faster,
and hopefully lead an eventual return to the B side once a fix has been found.
Curiosity resumes operations from its A-side computer,
taking this panorama at a location known as Rock Hall.
The rover also takes a selfie here after a successful drill sample.
The area is still covered in dust after the global dust storm that incapacitated
the Opportunity rover. Curiosity is now moving towards a clay rich area that scientists have
been hoping to see for the last 7 years. This visualisation shows the proposed route for
the rover. It will explore the aptly named clay bearing unit , before marching onwards and upwards
mount sharp, into the sulfate bearing unit . The rover may eventually reach Gediz Vallis
channel , which has an uncanny resemblance to an ancient river.
Curiosity looks towards the clay bearing unit and sees waves in the foreground. Towards the
left of the image is a portion of Vera Rubin Ridge. Scientists are trying to figure out
why that ridge has resisted erosion and yet the clay bearing unit is much softer.
The clay bearing unit is an eroded valley between Vera Rubin Ridge
and higher regions of Mount Sharp. The best explanation for why this valley has been eroded
is some form of massive environmental change in the ancient past.
As clay bearing unit doesn t exactly roll off the tongue, the team at NASA
rename the area to Glen Torridon after a narrow valley of the river Torridon in Scotland.
Just as the rover is making good progress, it experiences a hard reset and automatically enters
safe mode. The team at NASA have since isolated the memory problems on the B side computer,
and so switch the rover over to that side once again.
Curiosity steadily gets back to business; by first observing a Martian eclipse. This is the
moon Deimos, the smaller of the 2 Martian moons, passing in front of the Sun.
On Sol 2356, the rover comes across an incredible patch of pebbles in Glen
Torridon. These rocks look like they ve possibly been rounded by water over a long time.
Curiosity looks to the sky once again, and is lucky enough to see the other Martian moon,
Phobos, passing in front of the Sun. This series of images shows that Phobos is the
larger of the 2 moons, at about 8 miles, or 11 kilometres in diameter. The eclipse
lasts about 35 seconds in real time. On Sol 2372, Curiosity gets it s first
taste of the clay bearing unit at a site named Aberlady. The drilling is a total success.
When looking at the before and after images, we can see that the drilled rock and terrain
surrounding it appear to have moved when the drill was retracted.
Before we continue, did you know that having a razor subscription is a bad idea for not just
your wallet, but also the planet? Typical razor subscription programs are responsible for about
7.2kg of CO2 emissions per customer! That's why Henson Shaving has developed a new business model,
where you buy just one razor that is built so well it will literally last you a lifetime.
The razors are completely plastic free, and so is the packaging. The lifetime warranty on the
razor means it is the last razor you'll ever need to buy. You won't have to worry about
purchasing disposable razors anymore. And with the offer they are giving you,
you'll get 100 replacement blades for free with every razor purchase when
entering the code Elderfox at checkout. We'd like to say a quick thanks to all of
you who have supported our sponsor so far, and changed the way you shave.
The rover looks up and sees Martian clouds. These are likely water-ice clouds about 19 miles,
or 31 kilometers above the surface. These clouds are so high that they
are still illuminated by the Sun, even when it's night at Mars' surface. Scientists can
watch when light leaves the clouds and use this information to infer their altitude.
The rover takes another drill sample nearby and you guessed it takes a selfie
in celebration of a successful drilling. On Sol 2407, a wheel check is initiated.
Nothing surprising is found. The team s damage mitigation efforts: driving over
softer terrain - seem to be working well. There is also a plan B - in case the damaged
wheels get in the way of the mission. The team would order the rover to scrape a wheel against
a sharp rock, hacking off any bits that may damage some of the rovers more sensitive components.
Curiosity views more clouds before setting off on a drive.
The rover looks back at it s tracks from its new location, known as Teal Ridge . By
driving up the side of this ridge, the rover has access to an exposed unit of rocks.
The rover takes a closer look at a site named
Strathdon . This boulder-sized rock has some interesting layering.
An even closer look using the camera on the rovers arm shows the rock was created
by hardening of sediments deposited from both water and wind action.
In the next episode, Curiosity performs a hill climb to get up a steep ridge,
loses its balance and takes a 1.8-billion-pixel image.
Click here to watch. Thanks for watching Elderfox. Remember to like,
share and subscribe to keep up to date with the latest discoveries.