CaltechAUTHORS
Published August 2015 | Version public
Journal Article Metadata-only

The Mars Science Laboratory scooping campaign at Rocknest

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Jet Propulsion Lab
  • 2. ROR icon Stony Brook University
  • 3. ROR icon Malin Space Science Systems (United States)
  • 4. ROR icon Planetary Science Institute
  • 5. ROR icon California Institute of Technology

Abstract

During its 57th through 100th martian days (sols) in Gale Crater, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover performed its first sample acquisition and processing of solid, granular sample. Samples were extracted from an aeolian sand deposit at a location called Rocknest. The Rocknest sampling site was identified to fit the prelaunch scientific and engineering requirements for this first time activity. Collected material was processed and delivered to two analytical instruments, Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) and Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM), that both require delivery of a specific particle size range so that they can perform analyses to determine sample mineralogy and geochemistry. The choice of an aeolian sand deposit was based on requirements to ingest non-lithified, particulate sample for decontamination of the Sample Acquisition/Sample Processing and Handling (SA/SPaH) hardware, as well as to provide an opportunity to compare analytical results to aeolian deposits from elsewhere on the martian surface.

Additional Information

© 2015 Elsevier. Received 15 November 2014; Revised 5 March 2015; Accepted 29 March 2015; Available online 13 April 2015. This research was carried out at the Extraterrestrial Material Simulation Laboratory at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). We would like to thank the two reviewers for the helpful comments/additions to this manuscript.

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
59558
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20150814-142329055

Funding

NASA/JPL/Caltech

Dates

Created
2015-08-14
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-10
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (GPS)