8 March 2017

The Curiosity rover drove a little over 40 meters on
Sol 1630, to a place with bedrock blocks surrounded by dark sand. There’s a
bright block with parallel linear features in the arm workspace, so the tactical team decided to plan contact science on those features. This made for an exciting day for me as
MAHLI/
MARDI uplink lead! The
MAHLI image through the closed dust cover that was planned for
Sol 1630 was successfully acquired, so we’re planning to acquire a similar image of the
APXS target “Spring Point” on
Sol 1632.
MAHLI diagnostic images of its calibration target and more drill diagnostic tests are also planned for
Sol 1632, along with
ChemCam and Right
Mastcam observations of Spring Point and a nearby target named “Nine Lake.” Right
Mastcam will also take an image of a laminated rock dubbed “Grand Pitch” before the rover drives away. On
Sol 1633,
Navcam will search for dust devils and
ChemCam will again use AEGIS to autonomously select and observe a target in the rover’s new location. Finally,
MARDI will take another image during twilight. If all goes well, we’ll be able to return to normal
MAHLI operations this weekend!
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