3 August 2016

The
Sol 1419 activities completed successfully, including cleaning the remaining Oudam sample out of
CHIMRA. So the focus of the
Sol 1420 plan is drilling into the Marimba bedrock target. But first,
MAHLI will image the “noseprint” of the
APXS contact sensor in the
Oudam dump pile and the drill target from various distances. After the drilling has completed, the drill bit and the new drill hole will be imaged by many of the
MSL cameras. And once again, we were able to fit some additional
Mastcam observations into the plan: Measurements of dust in the atmosphere, a stereo mosaic extending coverage of the arm workspace, images of targets “Cota 1” and “Cota 2” to serve as a baseline for detecting changes in sand deposits this weekend, and two stereo pairs to improve coverage of one of the Murray Buttes. The
MAHLI activities were all part of the drill campaign that was planned in advance, so it was an easy day for me as uplink lead.
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.
Posted in:
Curiosity, Field Work, MSL