Curiosity Rover Narrowing in on Next Study Site

NASA's Mars Curiosity has moved into a position that will allow it to snap pictures scientists back on Earth need to select the next target of study for the rover.

The completion of a two-day autonomous drive Monday brought the mobile laboratory within roughly 262 feet of an outcrop known as "Cooperstown." Named after a rock deposit in New York, Cooperstown contains a number of candidate target spots for examination.

"What interests us about this site is an intriguing outcrop of layered material visible in the orbital images," said Kevin Lewis of Princeton University, a participating scientist for the mission who has been a leader in planning the Cooperstown activities. "We want to see how the local layered outcrop at Cooperstown may help us relate the geology of Yellowknife Bay to the geology of Mount Sharp."

Yellowknife Bay refers to a shallow depression Curiosity turned into its lab back in January. Mount Sharp is a mountain inside Gale Crater with a peak stretching 3.4 miles into space, and Curiosity's main science target. The probe began the 5.3 mile trek from the area where it labored for the first half of 2013 back in July, with Cooperstown falling roughly one-third of the way along the route. Upon arriving at Mount Sharp, scientists plan to use Curiosity to study the formation's layers, and thereby gain a look into the planet's history.

A key activity planned in the upcoming week includes uploading a new version of onboard software. The upgrade will mark the third since the rover landed in August 2012. Improvements embedded in the upcoming upload include advances in the information the rover can store overnight to resume autonomous driving the next day and increased capabilities for use of robotic arms while parked on slopes -- the latter of which is considered especially crucial for the upcoming Mount Sharp investigation.