The Sol 1141 activities completed as expected, and the rover’s batteries are charged up enough to allow both daytime and nighttime activities in today’s plan.  First, the unsieved part of the Greenhorn drill sample will be dumped onto the ground and Mastcam and MAHLI will take pictures of the resulting pile. Then the left Mastcam will acquire a 9×2 mosaic and ChemCam and Mastcam will observe the target “Maywood” to better characterize the variations in silica content near the rover.  After dusk, MAHLI will use its LEDs to take pictures of the walls and bottom of the drill hole.  MAHLI will also take close-up images of the drill tailings and of CheMin‘s inlet before the APXS is placed over the drill tailings for an overnight integration.

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.