Curiosity Blog, Sols 4636-4637: Up Against a Wall

Aug 21, 2025 - 08:00

0 0

2 min read

Curiosity Blog, Sols 4636-4637: Up Against a Wall

A grayscale photo from the Martian surface shows rocky, uneven terrain in medium gray. Part of the Curiosity rover fills most of the bottom half of the image, brightly lit in some places and shadowed in others. In front of it, visible in the upper right corner of the image, a virtual wall composed of stacked, jagged, horizontal layers of stone; this abutment appears to block the rover’s path.

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image, showing itself parked at the wall of a fracture named “Río Frío.” Curiosity used its Left Navigation Camera on Aug. 19, 2025 — Sol 4634, or Martian day 4,634 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 14:51:33 UTC.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Written by Michelle Minitti, MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator, Framework

Earth planning date: Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025

What does a good rover do when her back is up against a wall? Fight for science!

Curiosity indeed fought the good fight at “Río Frío,” the wall of one of the many ridges cutting through the boxwork terrain we have been systematically exploring. The observations along the wall today provide insight into the internal structure and chemistry of the ridges, hopefully giving us clues as to why they are standing proud relative to the surrounding terrain.

The structural story will be told by the large Mastcam mosaics we planned, covering the ridge from base to top, and from a MAHLI mosaic covering a horizon of the wall filled with resistant nodules and smooth, swooping surfaces cutting in all directions that are likely veins. The mosaic target, “Jardín de las Delicias,” will surely yield a surfeit of Martian delights. The chemical story will be told by APXS analysis of the nodule-filled target “Minimini” and SuperCam analysis of a vein at “El Tapado.” In contrast to the ridge itself, we planned a Mastcam mosaic of part of the hollow at the base of the ridge at target “Playa Zapatilla.”

Beyond the ridge, we planned Mastcam and ChemCam imaging of the “Paniri” and “Mishe Mokwa” buttes, respectively, and sky observations with Navcam and Mastcam. DAN, RAD, and REMS run periodically through the plan keeping their eye on the Martian environment. Our drive will take us to a smaller ridge perpendicular to Río Frío, where we will once again fight to learn the secrets these ridges have to tell about Mars’ past.

Want to read more posts from the Curiosity team?

Visit Mission Updates
Want to learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments?

Visit the Science Instruments page