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Sols 1366-1367: Opportunistic contact science

The day started off with some changes to the sol path due to some holes in the downlink. Unfortunately some engineering camera and MAHLI images from Sol 1364 were not fully transmitted, so the team worked quickly to rearrange the intended activities this week. Fortunately that also meant that we could add in some opportunistic DRT, MAHLI and APXS activities on Sol 1366.

The two-sol plan starts off with ChemCam and Mastcam observations of the Oudam drill hole and tailings, and the nearby target "Omulonga." We’ll also acquire some Mastcam and Navcam observations to monitor the atmosphere. In the afternoon of the first sol, we’ll use the DRT, MALHI and APXS to characterize the bedrock target "Aubures" to look for variations in texture and chemistry within the Murray formation. On the second sol we’ll acquire a 360 degree Mastcam mosaic for geologic context, and a routine SAM electrical baseline test to monitor instrument health. Hopefully the Navcam images will be retransmitted so we can continue with our drill site characterization activities later this week!

By Lauren Edgar

--Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the MSL science team.

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 Lauren Edgar, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center