ChemCam Archives

Mars

Preparing To Drill At ‘Nazca’ On Mars

by Keith CowingOctober 29, 2026October 29, 2026

[NASA]. Curiosity Blog, Sols 5043-5049: Preparing to Drill at ‘Nazca’ Earth planning date: Friday, Oct. 16, 2026

Mars

Mars Curiosity Blog Sols 4961-4967: Approaching a Break in the Rock Record?

by Keith CowingAugust 2, 2026August 2, 2026

[NASA JPL] Earth planning date: Friday, July 24, 2026

Curiosity's drill stuck in a rock named Atacama -- NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return, Status Report

Curiosity Astrobiology Rover Gets Stuck And Unstuck In ‘Atacama’

by Keith CowingMay 7, 2026May 17, 2026

Earth planning date: Friday, May 1, 2026 Chile’s Atacama desert is the driest mid-latitude desert in the world, receiving only 15 millimeters (0.59 inches) of precipitation per year. Only the […]

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Desert Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

Mars Curiosity Blog, Sols 4852–4858: When Data Take Their Time…

by Keith CowingApril 16, 2026April 16, 2026

Earth planning date: Friday, April 3, 2026 Written by Susanne P. Schwenzer, Professor of Planetary Mineralogy at The Open University, UK

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mast Camera (Mastcam); it shows the “Nevado Sajama” drill site from November, right next to the location of this weekend’s drill. The new drill site will be to the upper left of the existing hole. Curiosity captured the image on Jan. 25, 2026 — Sol 4789, or Martian day 4,789 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 19:20:37 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Desert Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return, Status Report

Mars Curiosity Seeks Evidence Of Organics

by Keith CowingFebruary 8, 2026February 8, 2026

Curiosity Blog, Sols 4788-4797: Welcome Back from ConjunctionEarth planning date: Friday, Jan. 30, 2026

Schematic illustration of our proposed carbon cycle on early Mars. Evaporation of water (pink shading) from subsurface pore spaces initially deposits siderite, which sequesters atmospheric CO2 (black downward arrow). Increasing levels of evaporation deposit Ca-sulfate and Mg-sulfate minerals. Wind-blown (eolian) sedimentation at the ground surface (gray dots) moves the location of evaporation and chemical sedimentation upward with time. After some time (white arrow), infiltration of siderite-undersaturated fluids (yellow shading) partially destroys the previously precipitated siderite, forming Fe-oxyhydroxides and releasing previous

Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

Carbonates Identified By The Curiosity Rover Indicate A Carbon Cycle Operated On Ancient Mars

by Keith CowingApril 20, 2025

Ancient Mars had surface liquid water and a dense carbon dioxide (CO2)–rich atmosphere. Such an atmosphere would interact with crustal rocks, potentially leaving a mineralogical record of its presence.

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this image showing its wheel awkwardly perched atop one of the rocks in this location, as well as the textures of the layered sulfate unit bedrock blocks. The rover used its Left Navigation Camera (Navcam), one of a pair of stereo cameras on either side of the rover’s masthead, to record the image on Feb. 28, 2025, on sol 4466, or Martian day 4,466 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, at 00:34:10 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech larger image

Mars, Missions & Hardware, Status Report

Mars Science Laboratory Sols 4468-4470: A Wintry Mix of Mars Science

by Keith CowingMarch 10, 2025March 9, 2025

Earth planning date: Friday, Feb. 28, 2025

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity prepares for a thorough examination of the unusual, dark “Tungsten Hills” rocks in front of it, studying these rugged boulders covered in paper-thin sedimentary layers, some of which contain intriguing ripple structures that may have formed in running water or windblown sand. This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera aboard Curiosity on Sol 4298 — Martian day 4,298 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on Sept. 8, 2024, at 06:35:57 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech larger image -- NASA

Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

Mars Astrobiology Rover Curiosity Update: Sols 4300-4301: Rippled Pages

by Keith CowingSeptember 16, 2024September 16, 2024

Earth planning date: Monday, Sept. 9, 2024 With today’s plan, Curiosity completes its most southerly planned exploration of the Gediz Vallis channel. From here, our rover will head north and […]

Curiosity - Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mars, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Tricorders & Sensors

Mars Curiosity Astrobiology Rover ChemCam Instrument Has Fired 1 Million Times

by Keith CowingSeptember 12, 2024

The ChemCam instrument, developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, recently zapped its laser for the 1 millionth time on Mars. Sitting on top of NASA’s Curiosity rover, ChemCam has been […]

Mastcam mosaic from the sol 1686 rover location looking behind the rover (downslope) at the transition point between the Sutton Island and Blunts Point Murray members. Images from sols 1685–1689 display sedimentary textures of dark-toned Mn-rich sandstones and nearby rocks. Dashed line boxes in the large mosaic are shown as insets along the bottom of figure. Small red outlines show the approximate locations and extent of ChemCam observations (portions of the Remote Micro Imager images of these observations are shown in Figure 3). Throughout this transition area, dark-toned sandstones (presumably Mn-rich based on ChemCam observations at three locations) overlie light-toned materials. Insets from left to right: (a) Denning Brook, a Mn-rich fine-grained dark-toned sandstone ChemCam observation; (b) & (c) two light-toned blocks with cross-stratified textures, highlighted with yellow lines, 6 m away from Denning Brook and to the upper left in the large mosaic; (d) dark-toned materials (center of mosaic); and E1) Newport Ledge, E2) AEGIS post 1685a, E3) Sugarloaf Mountain, three thin planar laminated dark-toned sandstones. NASA/Caltech-JPL/MSSS.

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

New Findings Point To An Earth-like Environment On Ancient Mars

by Keith CowingMay 2, 2024May 2, 2024

A research team using the ChemCam instrument onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered higher-than-usual amounts of manganese in lakebed rocks within Gale Crater on Mars, which indicates that the sediments were […]