Sol 986: Finding a Path

We’ve been having trouble with the path we originally wanted
to take through the sand toward the interesting geology at "Mt. Stimson", so in
today’s plan we are going to take a careful look around to identify better
routes. Mastcam has a 13x3 mosaic in the direction we want to go, as well as a
5x3 mosaic of Mt. Stimson and a 2x2 mosaic to fill a gap in a previous mosaic.

While Mastcam tries to spot a path through the sand, ChemCam
is busy testing out its new focusing software, which seems to be working well.
ChemCam has an autofocus observation of a target called "Yellowjacket", and a
z-stack observation of the same target to compare the results.

After that, we have a short backwards drive to get us from
our current highly tilted location to more level ground. After the drive,
Navcam will provide a 360 degree view of our new location, and Mastcam will do
a "clast survey" to document the sand and pebbles at our new location.

Finally, Mastcam has some night-time imaging of another
Phobos eclipse. by Ryan Anderson -Ryan is a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the ChemCam team on MSL. 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.

Written by Ryan Anderson, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center