by Ken Herkenhoff

MSL drove about 65 meters on Sol 956, then took some nice images of the path ahead. 

As we continue to drive each sol, acquiring images of the terrain around us is important to the science team.  We don’t want to miss anything!  So the Sol 957 plan includes ChemCam RMI and Mastcam images of outcrops to the south and a Mastcam image of the windblown ripple right in front of the rover.  After the drive, the usual imaging to support future planning will be acquired, but we don’t expect to receive all of the data in time for tactical planning tomorrow. The volume of data expected to be relayed to Earth via MRO is smaller than usual on Sol 957, which was the only significant problem I had to deal with today as SOWG Chair.  Sometimes more data are relayed than expected, in which case we’ll get additional images of the terrain in the vicinity of the rover. 

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.