Curiosity heads toward Yardang unit, studying pale and dark bedrock

Curiosity alternates between tightly planned science campaigns and looser drives between them. The rover is heading south toward the Yardang unit, a series of pale, wind‑sculpted hills visible in the cover image. Rover planners sometimes push for maximum drive distance and sometimes stop to examine promising workspaces.

The team is traversing laminated bedrock that ranges from predominantly pale layers to bands with thin, darker flaky layers, and some rocks jut at odd angles, which complicates drive planning. APXS and MAHLI characterized darker material at “Rio Bio Bio” and “Placilla de Caracoles” and paler material at the brushed targets “La Primavera” and “Los Quemados.” ChemCam analyzed both rock types, while Mastcam and ChemCam LD‑RMI have been imaging many features, including the distant erosional outlier “Mira Flores” and the “Kimsa Chata” trough, whose sedimentary structures may point to desert, lake, or mixed conditions.

curiosity, yardang unit, bedrock, pale layers, dark layers, chemcam, mastcam, apxs, mahli, sedimentary structures