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- Written by: Lake County News reports
After driving more than a football field’s length since landing, NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is spending several days preparing for full use of the tools on its arm.
Curiosity extended its robotic arm last Wednesday in the first of six to 10 consecutive days of planned activities to test the 7-foot arm and the tools it manipulates.
“We will be putting the arm through a range of motions and placing it at important ‘teach points’ that were established during Earth testing, such as the positions for putting sample material into the inlet ports for analytical instruments,” said Daniel Limonadi of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., lead systems engineer for Curiosity’s surface sampling and science system. “These activities are important to get a better understanding for how the arm functions after the long cruise to Mars and in the different temperature and gravity of Mars, compared to earlier testing on Earth.”
Since the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft placed Curiosity inside Mars’ Gale Crater on Aug. 5 (Aug. 6 EDT), the rover has driven a total of 358 feet.
The drives have brought it about one-fourth of the way from the landing site, named Bradbury Landing, to a location selected as the mission’s first major science destination, Glenelg.
“We knew at some point we were going to need to stop and take a week or so for these characterization activities,” said Michael Watkins, JPL’s Curiosity mission manager. “For these checkouts, we need to turn to a particular angle in relation to the sun and on flat ground. We could see before the latest drive that this looked like a perfect spot to start these activities.”
The work at the current location will prepare Curiosity and the team for using the arm to place two of the science instruments onto rock and soil targets.
In addition, the activities represent the first steps in preparing to scoop soil, drill into rocks, process collected samples and deliver samples into analytical instruments.
Checkouts will include using the turret’s Mars Hand Lens Imager to observe its calibration target and the Canadian-built Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer to read what chemical elements are present in the instrument’s calibration target.
“We’re still learning how to use the rover. It’s such a complex machine – the learning curve is steep,” said JPL’s Joy Crisp, deputy project scientist for the MSL Project, which built and operates Curiosity.
After the arm characterization activities at the current site, Curiosity will proceed for a few weeks eastward toward Glenelg. The science team selected that area as likely to offer a good target for Curiosity’s first analysis of powder collected by drilling into a rock.
“We’re getting through a big set of characterization activities that will allow us to give more decision-making authority to the science team,” said Richard Cook, MSL project manager at JPL.
Curiosity is one month into a two-year prime mission on Mars. It will use 10 science instruments to assess whether the selected study area ever has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. JPL manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
More information about Curiosity is online at www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl .
Follow the mission on Facebook at www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and Twitter at www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The wildland fire burning on Cow Mountain northwest of Lakeport nearly doubled in size by the end of Saturday.
The Scotts Fire, located west of Scott Valley Road and east of Ukiah, had scorched a total of 3,000 acres by Saturday night, with containment remaining at 5 percent, according to Cal Fire.
The fire, first reported just after 1 p.m. Friday, led to temporary evacuations near Blue Lakes on Friday evening as it raced toward the community through steep, rugged terrain.
Nearly 300 additional fire personnel were assigned to the fire by nightfall on Saturday, with total personnel rising to 822, Cal Fire said.
Also on scene were 51 engines, 28 fire crews, eight helicopters, 17 bulldozers and nine water tenders, according to the Cal Fire evening report.
Cal Fire said 300 residences and 40 outbuildings remained threatened, with the fire’s cause still under investigation.
Officials said traffic controls are in effect for Scotts Valley Road.
A Cal Fire Type 1 Incident Management Team took command of the fire at 6 p.m. Saturday, officials reported. Cal Fire Division Chief Eric Hoffman, who was incident commander on the Wye Fire, is leading the team.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – In response to a wildland fire burning northwest of Lakeport, a Lake County official said Saturday evening that the county is issuing a temporary closure order for Lampson Field.
Lake County Department of Public Works Director Scott De Leon said the Notice to Airmen – or NOTAM – goes into effect at 7 a.m. Sunday, and will close Lampson Field to all general aviation traffic.
De Leon said Cal Fire will be using Lampson Field as its base of aerial operations on the Scotts Fire, burning since Friday afternoon at the northern end of Cow Mountain, west of Scotts Valley Road and east of Ukiah.
The closure will be in effect for five days, unless modified, De Leon said.
He said the closure order does not affect REACH Air Ambulance, which will continue to operate out of Lampson Field.
On Saturday evening Cal Fire said the Scotts Fire had grown to 3,000 acres, with 5 percent containment.
No date for full containment has yet been reported.
Earlier in the day, county officials issued a temporary closure order for Mt. Konocti County Park and suspended hunting in the Highland Springs area due to concerns about fire danger, as Lake County News has reported.
The county’s action to temporary close the park and halt hunting at Highland Springs also was in response to the already stretched state and local fire resources, which are being used not just on the Scotts Fire but also on the North Pass Fire in Mendocino County and the 16 Complex in Colusa and Yolo counties.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Saturday firefighters continued working on the ground and from the air to contain a wildland fire burning northwest of Lakeport.
The Scotts Fire, located on Cow Mountain west of Scotts Valley Road, was first reported shortly after 1 p.m. Friday.
By Friday night it had burned 1,600 acres in steep and inaccessible terrain, and resulted in the evacuation of the Blue Lakes area.
That evacuation order was lifted later Friday night, as Lake County News has reported. However, the Cal Fire Mendocino Unit said Saturday that 300 residences and 40 outbuildings remain threatened by the fire.
On Saturday firefighters held the fire’s acreage from advancing, and managed to get an estimated 5 percent containment on the incident, Cal Fire said. No date for full containment has yet been given.
There were 541 personnel assigned to the fire on Saturday – 491 of them from Cal Fire – along with 68 engines, 15 fire crews, three airtankers, three helicopters, eight bulldozers and one water tender, Cal Fire said.
Cal Fire said the fire’s cause remains under investigation.
Lake County Air Quality Management issued an alert on Friday that forecast “moderate “ to “unhealthy” – with the possibility of “hazardous” – air quality conditions in Lake County over the weekend because of the fire.
Smoke from the fire resulted in a football game at Upper Lake High School being rescheduled from Saturday afternoon to Monday.
Cooperating agencies on the incident include Cal Fire; local fire agencies from Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma counties; the Bureau of Land Management; the Lake County Sheriff’s Office; the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office; the Air National Guard; and Red Cross.
Major wildland fires continued burning in Lake’s neighboring counties on Saturday, with the North Pass Fire in Mendocino County remaining at 41,983 acres, with containment rising to 81 percent, according to the unified command of Cal Fire and the US Forest Service.
In Colusa and Yolo counties, Cal Fire said the 16 Complex in the Rumsey Canyon area had scorched a total of 16,837 acres, with containment at 35 percent.
Both the North Pass Fire and the 16 Complex are expected to be contained by Monday, officials said.
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