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 Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home
3 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 5022-5028: Cashing in at Cache Creek NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of the “Basque Lakes” drill site after the pre-load test, using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), a close-up camera located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm. Curiosity acquired the image on Sept. 23, 2026 — Sol 5023, or Martian day 5,023 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission — at 03:56:10 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSWritten by Lucy Thompson, Senior Research Scientist, University of New Brunswick, Canada
Earth planning Friday, Sept. 25, 2026
Before we landed, the area of Gale crater that we planned to explore was divided up into rectangular parcels with designated names. The names were chosen after small towns associated with significant geological features. Our selected targets (mesas, bedrock, soil, boulders, etc.) within those quads were then given unofficial names based on the theme of the quad. See the link here for more details on naming conventions on Mars. Curiosity has long since climbed above the quads that were selected before landing, and before her 14-year, 38-kilometer (24.6-mile) trek, which included more than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) of elevation gain.
We recently entered the new Cache Creek quad, named after an area of geological diversity in British Columbia, Canada. The area in Canada includes exposures of oceanic crust, marine sediments, volcanic rocks, and glacial deposits, as well as being home to lakes with unusual chemistry that may be analogous to lakes that once existed on Mars. It also lies at the southern end of the 1860s Gold Rush Trail, where miners and prospectors flocked to this part of British Columbia in search of riches. This week we successfully drilled into our 48th rock target in Gale crater (“Basque Lakes”), from the Cache Creek quad. While we may not literally strike gold, we are all eagerly anticipating the outcome of the CheMin X-ray diffraction analysis of our drilled sample that will take place in this weekend plan. What gold mine of minerals will the sample contain? What can they tell us about the depositional and alteration history of this rock exposure — might there be similar minerals present as those associated with some of the lakes in the Cache Creek area of British Columbia?
As an APXS uplink lead and strategic planner this week I helped to plan the triage contact science on the potential Basque Lakes drill target and communicate the results to the rest of the team. We placed APXS in contact with the rock target to measure its chemistry, and the MAHLI camera to within 1 centimeter (about 0.4 inches) to examine in detail the textures. ChemCam also fired its laser at the Basque Lakes drill target to further characterize composition. MAHLI also imaged the target after the engineers checked the stability of the rock with a pre-load test. The results from all these activities helped to determine whether to proceed with drilling.
Despite significant power constraints associated with drilling and the accompanying analyses, as well as an aging rover, we were also able to plan additional activities. Mastcam imaged the surrounding terrain to provide context for our new drill sample. ChemCam was able to analyze the chemistry of another nearby bedrock target, “Peace River,” and use its imaging and passive spectroscopic capabilities to look at the new drill hole and surrounding tailings. ChemCam remote imaging was also used to examine an interesting-looking deposit of jumbled blocks at the base of a nearby butte, “Cordillera.”
We also utilized Navcam and Mastcam imaging in the continued monitoring of environmental and atmospheric conditions in Gale crater.
Analysis of the Basque Lakes drill sample should continue next week with delivery of material to SAM, which will reveal more nuggets of information regarding the history of this particular rock sample. Curiosity will likely be at this location for another week, before we dump the sample and drive away to continue our exploration of Mount Sharp and Gale crater.
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 Curiosity rover at the base of Mount Sharp NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSShare
Details
Last Updated Oct 04, 2026Related Terms
BlogsExplore More
3 min readCuriosity Blog, Sols 5016–5021: Fantastic Minerals and How To Detect Them
Article 4 days ago3 min read
Mars Has Its Charmes
Article 6 days ago3 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 5010-5015: Checking out the Bands
Article 2 weeks agoKeep 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…
Hence then, the article about curiosity blog sols 5022 5028 cashing in at cache creek was published today ( ) and is available on NASA ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Curiosity Blog, Sols 5022-5028: Cashing in at Cache Creek )
Also on site :
- How to watch Republic of Ireland v Israel Nations League in the UK: TV coverage, live stream and kick-off time
- ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Star Receives Outpouring of Support After Revealing Wife Died From Massive Hemorrhagic Stroke
- Former L’Oréal execs set out to build a $1.2 billion beauty empire. Now all that’s left is Milk Makeup, and its sales just fell 57%