4 January 2017

Sol 1570: Finishing up at Old Soaker

Posted by Ryan Anderson

The focus of the Sol 1570 plan is to finish our work at Old Soaker.  The APXS will be retracted and the arm moved out of the way for ChemCam and Right Mastcam observations of Huguenot Head and ChemCam measurements of a dark grey patch called “Valley Cove” and another observation of Deep Cove.  Navcam will search for dust devils, then the rover will briefly rest and recharge before deploying the arm for more contact science.  MAHLI will acquire a full suite of images of Valley Cove and a couple close-up images of “Fresh Meadow.”  Fresh Meadow is a new target near Eagle Lake, which was not well centered on the grey material of interest in this area.  The APXS will be placed on Fresh Meadow for a short integration, then on Valley Cove for an overnight integration.  If all of this goes well, we will be ready to drive away from Old Soaker on Sol 1571.

By Ken Herkenhoff

Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.