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On 31 May, a live performance of The Blue Danube – often referred to as the ‘anthem of space’ – was transmitted by the European Space Agency (ESA) into the vastness of space. The event marked a double celebration: ESA’s 50th anniversary and the 200th birthday of the King of Waltz Johann Strauss II.

A potentially hazardous asteroid roughly the size of an aircraft carrier is due to pass within 2.8 million miles (3.5 million km) of Earth on June 5 and you can watch it happen live online.

Science communicator Hank Green explains how our species’ unique intelligence got us into this climate mess—and how it will help us solve it

Aurora chasers, keep your eyes on the skies as we might be in for another show this weekend, albeit slightly smaller than the performances earlier this week.

A 40-year-old conjecture on shapes’ cross sections is finally proven

As our ancestors developed more advanced tools and cultural practices, they also developed new ways of explaining concepts to others – culminating in the emergence of complex language

As our ancestors developed more advanced tools and cultural practices, they also developed new ways of explaining concepts to others – culminating in the emergence of complex language

Layoffs and funding freezes have gutted the CDC’s response to the opioid crisis—just as harm reduction was beginning to work

Surveys show that how nuclear strike options are presented strongly influences the decision a president may make

The velvet worm’s extraordinary goo could inspire recyclable bioplastics

The Meteosat Third Generation Sounder satellite (MTG-S) will generate a completely new type of data product, especially suited to nowcasting severe weather events. Here are five ways in which Europe’s latest weather satellite will change how we forecast weather.

Mikael Genberg discusses his "Moonhouse" project, which is about to land a tiny replica of the iconic red-and-white Swedish house on Earth's nearest neighbor.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) newest planetary defender has opened its ‘eye’ to the cosmos for the first time. The Flyeye telescope’s ‘first light’ marks the beginning of a new chapter in how we scan the skies for new near-Earth asteroids and comets.

New research suggests that the largest magnetic fields in the universe originated through some exotic mechanism that absolutely soaked the early cosmos.

A 500-page proof that only a handful of people in the world claim to understand kicked off a saga unlike anything else in the history of mathematics – and now there’s a new twist to the story, says Jacob Aron

A 500-page proof that only a handful of people in the world claim to understand kicked off a saga unlike anything else in the history of mathematics – and now there’s a new twist to the story, says Jacob Aron

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base this evening (June 4), carrying 27 Starlink satellites for the company's growing wireless internet constellation.

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Sols 4559-4560: Drill Campaign — Searching for a Boxwork Bedrock Drill Site NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of a portion of its workspace, full of interesting but not drillable bedrock, using its Left Navigation Camera on June 2, 2025 — Sol 4558, or Martian day 4,558 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 12:23:24 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Written by Lucy Lim, Planetary Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Earth planning date: Monday, June 2, 2025

Now that Curiosity has spent a few sols collecting close-up measurements of the rocks in the outer edge of the boxwork-forming geologic unit, the team has decided that it’s time to collect a drill sample. The geochemical measurements by APXS and ChemCam have shown changes since we crossed over from the previous layered sulfate unit, but we can’t figure out the mineralogy from those data alone. As we’ve often seen before on Mars, the same chemical elements can crystallize into a number of different mineral assemblages. That’s even more the case in sedimentary rocks such as we are driving through, in which different grains in our rocks may have formed in different times and places. This also means that when we do get our mineral data, those minerals will tell us a lot about the history of these new-to-us rocks.

On board Curiosity, that mineral analysis is the job of the CheMin instrument, which uses X-ray diffraction to identify minerals. CheMin shines a narrow X-ray beam through a powdered sample in order to generate the diffraction pattern, which means that it needs a drilled sample. So the team today was busy looking for a drillable spot. Unfortunately the rover’s drill reach from today’s parking spot included only rocks that were too fractured or had too much debris sitting on them to be considered likely to produce a good drilled sample, so we will have to move, or “bump,” at least one more time before progressing to the drill preload test, which is the next step in drilling. 

In the meantime, we are taking more measurements to understand the range of compositions that can be found in this rock layer. Dust removal (DRT) + APXS + LIBS + MAHLI were all planned for target “Holcomb Valley,” while a short distance away a second DRT/APXS/MAHLI measurement was planned for “Santa Ysabel Valley” and in another direction, a second LIBS for “Stough Saddle.” One long-distance ChemCam remote imaging mosaic was planned to cover a boxwork structure off in the distance. Mastcam had a relatively light day of imaging, with just a couple of small mosaics covering a nearby trough feature, and providing context for the RMI of the boxwork structure, in addition to documenting the two LIBS targets. The modern Mars environment was also recorded with a couple of movies to look for dust-devil activity, a measurement of atmospheric opacity, and a pair of suprahorizon observations to look for clouds, plus the usual passive observations by DAN and REMS to monitor the neutron environment, temperature, and humidity.

I’ll be on rover planning Wednesday as Geology and Mineralogy Science Theme Lead and looking forward to what we find — hopefully some drillable boxwork-unit bedrock!

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Jun 04, 2025

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Curiosity Navigation

• Curiosity Home
• Science
• News and Features
• Multimedia
• Mars Missions
• Mars Home

3 min read

Sols 4559-4560: Drill Campaign — Searching for a Boxwork Bedrock Drill Site NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of a portion of its workspace, full of interesting but not drillable bedrock, using its Left Navigation Camera on June 2, 2025 — Sol 4558, or Martian day 4,558 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 12:23:24 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Written by Lucy Lim, Planetary Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Earth planning date: Monday, June 2, 2025

Now that Curiosity has spent a few sols collecting close-up measurements of the rocks in the outer edge of the boxwork-forming geologic unit, the team has decided that it’s time to collect a drill sample. The geochemical measurements by APXS and ChemCam have shown changes since we crossed over from the previous layered sulfate unit, but we can’t figure out the mineralogy from those data alone. As we’ve often seen before on Mars, the same chemical elements can crystallize into a number of different mineral assemblages. That’s even more the case in sedimentary rocks such as we are driving through, in which different grains in our rocks may have formed in different times and places. This also means that when we do get our mineral data, those minerals will tell us a lot about the history of these new-to-us rocks.

On board Curiosity, that mineral analysis is the job of the CheMin instrument, which uses X-ray diffraction to identify minerals. CheMin shines a narrow X-ray beam through a powdered sample in order to generate the diffraction pattern, which means that it needs a drilled sample. So the team today was busy looking for a drillable spot. Unfortunately the rover’s drill reach from today’s parking spot included only rocks that were too fractured or had too much debris sitting on them to be considered likely to produce a good drilled sample, so we will have to move, or “bump,” at least one more time before progressing to the drill preload test, which is the next step in drilling. 

In the meantime, we are taking more measurements to understand the range of compositions that can be found in this rock layer. Dust removal (DRT) + APXS + LIBS + MAHLI were all planned for target “Holcomb Valley,” while a short distance away a second DRT/APXS/MAHLI measurement was planned for “Santa Ysabel Valley” and in another direction, a second LIBS for “Stough Saddle.” One long-distance ChemCam remote imaging mosaic was planned to cover a boxwork structure off in the distance. Mastcam had a relatively light day of imaging, with just a couple of small mosaics covering a nearby trough feature, and providing context for the RMI of the boxwork structure, in addition to documenting the two LIBS targets. The modern Mars environment was also recorded with a couple of movies to look for dust-devil activity, a measurement of atmospheric opacity, and a pair of suprahorizon observations to look for clouds, plus the usual passive observations by DAN and REMS to monitor the neutron environment, temperature, and humidity.

I’ll be on rover planning Wednesday as Geology and Mineralogy Science Theme Lead and looking forward to what we find — hopefully some drillable boxwork-unit bedrock!

Share

• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  

Details

Last Updated

Jun 04, 2025

Related Terms

• Blogs

Explore More

2 min read Sols 4556-4558: It’s All in a Day’s (box)Work

Article


1 day ago

2 min read Sols 4554–4555: Let’s Try That One Again…

Article


6 days ago

2 min read Sol 4553: Back to the Boxwork!

Article


6 days ago

Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…

All Mars Resources

Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…

Rover Basics

Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…

Mars Exploration: Science Goals

The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…

Despite reports of a recent surge in ADHD, a global analysis has found no reliable evidence of an increase in the number of children diagnosed with the condition since 2020