10 December 2015

Sols 1189-1190: Drive precluded

Posted by Ryan Anderson

Because of a problem with one of the DSN station antennas, the data needed to plan a drive today were not received, so the Sol 1189-90 plan is dominated by remote sensing observations.  Neither driving nor arm activities are possible until the necessary images are retransmitted.  On Sol 1189, ChemCam and Mastcam will observe the bedrock to the right of the rover, then Mastcam and Navcam will image the workspace in front of the rover to enable contact science to be planned on Friday.  Early on Sol 1190 (when the lighting will be good), Mastcam will acquire a stereo mosaic of the “Namib” dune to the east.  Later that sol, Navcam will search for clouds and ChemCam will perform a calibration activity.

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.