Curiosity Blog, Sols 4629-4630: Feeling Hollow

Curiosity Navigation

Curiosity Home

Mission Overview
Where is Curiosity?
Mission Updates

Science

Overview
Instruments
Highlights
Exploration Goals

News and Features
Multimedia

Curiosity Raw Images
Images
Videos
Audio
Mosaics
More Resources

Mars Missions

Mars Sample Return
Mars Perseverance Rover
Mars Curiosity Rover
MAVEN
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Mars Odyssey
More Mars Missions

Mars Home

2 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4629-4630: Feeling Hollow

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of its workspace, including the small crescent-shaped rock named “Wedge Tailed Hillstar,” visible in the image just above the letters “SI” written on Curiosity’s arm. Curiosity captured the image using its Left Navigation Camera on Aug. 13, 2025 — Sol 4628, or Martian day 4,628 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 08:54:46 UTC.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Written by Elena Amador-French, Science Operations Coordinator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Earth planning date: Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025
Today’s team investigated the texture and chemistry of the bedrock within a topographic low, or hollow, found within the greater boxwork area. We will place our APXS instrument on the “Asiruqucha” target, some light-toned, small-scale nodular bedrock in the middle of our workspace. These data will help illuminate any systematic chemical trends between the hollows and ridges in this area. We always take an associated MAHLI image with every APXS measurement to help contextualize the chemistry. We will also observe a small crescent-shaped rock named “Wedge Tailed Hillstar” with MAHLI, visible in the above Navcam image just above the letters “SI” written on Curiosity’s arm.
We will use our remote sensing instruments to continue documenting the region taking stereo Mastcam images of “Cerro Paranal,” “Rio Frio,” and “Anchoveta.”  The ChemCam instrument will take an image of, and collect chemical information for, the target “Camanchaca,” as well as use its Remote Micro Imager (RMI) to take high-resolution imaging of more distant boxwork features. 
Once these observations are completed Curiosity will set off on a 30-meter drive (about 98 feet), taking us to an interesting ridge feature to investigate in Friday’s plan.
As usual we will continue to take our regular atmospheric monitoring observations using REMS, RAD, and DAN.

Want to read more posts from the Curiosity team?

Visit Mission Updates

Want to learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments?

Visit the Science Instruments page

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity at the base of Mount Sharp
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Share

Details

Last Updated

Aug 18, 2025

Related Terms

Blogs

Explore More

2 min read

Curiosity Blog, Sols 4627-4628: A Ridge Stop in the Boxworks

Article

3 days ago

2 min read

Curiosity Blog, Sols 4624-4626: A Busy Weekend at the Boxwork

Article

5 days ago

2 min read

Linking Local Lithologies to a Larger Landscape

Article

2 weeks 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…