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14 November 2015
Sols 1164-1165: Brushing “Swartkloofberg”
The rover drove over 38 meters on Sol 1162, as expected. We are transitioning out of restricted planning, so only 2 sols are being planned for this weekend. There were so many good ideas for activities this morning that the team had to decide which to remove from the plan to leave enough charge in the rover’s batteries to enable nominal planning on Monday. Still, the plan is a very …
12 November 2015
Sols 1162-1163: Approaching Bagnold Dunes
Today is a holiday for some of us, but not the MSL tactical operations team! The 55-meter drive planned for Sol 1160 completed as planned, and another 41-meter drive is planned for Sol 1162. Before the next drive, Mastcam and ChemCam will observe a small, sandy drift named “Arris” and a bedrock target dubbed “Tsumeb.” Mastcam will also acquire two mosaics, one of nearby outcrops and one of more distant …
10 November 2015
Sol 1160-1161: Brandberg
The 68-meter drive planned for Sol 1158 completed as planned, placing the rover near a dark, circular feature named “Brandberg.” The tactical operations team studied the images of Brandberg and discussed the value of contact science observations in this area, ultimately deciding to drive on toward the Bagnold Dunes. But before leaving, ChemCam and Mastcam will observe targets “Hoba” and “Gibeon” on the Brandberg feature, which appears to be a …
8 November 2015
Sol 1157-1159: A Busy Weekend on Mars
Whew! It’s going to be a busy weekend on Mars! The Sol 1157 plan starts off with an activity to test out AEGIS, a software tool that will help with choosing targets for ChemCam and Mastcam. The AEGIS activity will take ChemCam images of two targets: “Ashley Lakes” and “Amsden”. That is followed by a ChemCam observation of the target “Augusta”. Mastcam will take supporting images of Ashley Lakes and …
6 November 2015
Sol 1155-1156: Limited Downlink
Today’s planning was a bit challenging because we only got a few Navcam images down to show us possible science targets, which limited our choices for ChemCam observations. We are all looking forward to Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) waking up from the intentional “safe mode” status that it has been in this week! Still, even with limited data we were able to put together a good plan. On Sol 1155, …
2 November 2015
Sol 1153-1154: Driving Around
The short drive over the weekend went well, putting us in a good position for a longer drive in today’s plan. Before we drive, ChemCam will analyze the targets “Tampico”, “LaValle”, and “Muddy” to determine if their apparent variations in brightness in the Navcam images correspond to a variation in chemistry. Mastcam will take documentation images of the ChemCam targets, plus a 13×3 mosaic of the resistant outcrop “East Glacier” …
31 October 2015
Sols 1148-1152: Driving and Contact Science
Apologies for the lack of an update on Wednesday this week! Lauren and I were both in a training class, and Ken was traveling so none of us were able to post here. That means that today’s post covers five sols of planning! The sol 1148 plan started off with a Mastcam observation of the target McLeod and a 10×1 mosaic to patch a gap in the mosaic from sol …
26 October 2015
Sol 1146-1147: A View of Meeteetse
The weekend drive was successful, placing us nicely on an overlook of the “Meeteetse” area. The focus for Sol 1146 is to get some good color stereo images of the whole area, including “Big Sky,” “Greenhorn,” and “Meeteetse”. Mastcam will take a 16×3 mosaic of the Meeteetse area, plus a 12×1 right-eye mosaic of some nearby resistant ridges. It will also measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere by …
23 October 2015
Sols 1143-1145: Last observations at Greenhorn and driving away
After a successful investigation focused on alteration zones around fractures, it’s time to move on. We’re still chewing on data from the “Greenhorn” and “Big Sky” drill samples, but we can wrap up a few last observations in this area and drive away in today’s 3-sol plan. On the first sol, we’ll acquire MAHLI images on the pre-sieve dump pile and the nearby target “Vandalia,” with overnight APXS on the …
22 October 2015
Sol 1142: Nighttime imaging
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 …
