Yesterday’s plan went well and we have a new drill hole on Mars! The plan for Sol 1496 starts with a ChemCam passive observation of the dump pile of material from “Quela,” our previous drill hole. ChemCam also has passive observations of the tailings from the new hole at “Sebina,” followed by active observations using the laser. Mastcam then has some observations of the tailings and dump pile, plus an image to monitor the sand and dust on the rover deck, and a couple of atmospheric observations. Also in the 1496 plan, the drill sample from “Sebina” will be dropped off in CheMin, and MAHLI will take pictures of the drill hole and the CheMin inlet. Overnight, CheMin will analyze the sample while APXS analyzes the drill tailings.

by Ryan Anderson

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