Rock hazards identified from orbit approaching the vera rubin ridge, gale crater

Introduction: As the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), aka Curiosity rover, approached the Vera Rubin Ridge (VRR) on its way up Mount Sharp (i.e. Aeolis Mons), the strategic traverse crossed over a very dense rock field (Fig. 1). Due to wheel damage collected during the 17+ km traverse from Bradbury Rise to the ridge [1], abundant caution is taken when planning the long-term drive path, so as not to exacerbate current wheel conditions. One approach to delineating a safe rover route combined orbital and in-situ imagery to gain a quantitative assessment of rock hazards along the ~1 km of terrain skirting the northern edge of Vera Rubin Ridge (VRR). This data was used to reassess and plan a new higher fidelity route to “summit” VRR. To help preserve rover wheels for the duration of the mission, the goal is to avoid as many hazardous rocks as possible. Approaching the VRR, there are many bright, boulder-sized rocks that are flat lying and benign to the rover mobility system; rather, rocks with near-vertical edges are a concern as a wheel would have to ‘climb’ a sharp edge and risk damage. Dense rock fields incur longer traverse times to avoid all rock hazards, thus extending the time necessary to traverse to high-value science regions.