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Sol 1420: Drilling Marimba

The Sol 1419 activities completed successfully, including cleaning the remaining Oudam sample out of CHIMRA.

The Sol 1419 activities completed successfully, including cleaning the remaining Oudam sample out of CHIMRA. So the focus of the Sol 1420 plan is drilling into the
Marimba bedrock target. But first, MAHLI will image the "noseprint" of
the APXS contact sensor in the Oudam dump pile and the drill target from
various distances. After the drilling has completed, the drill bit and
the new drill hole will be imaged by many of the MSL cameras. And once
again, we were able to fit some additional Mastcam observations into
the plan: Measurements of dust in the atmosphere, a stereo mosaic
extending coverage of the arm workspace, images of targets "Cota 1" and
"Cota 2" to serve as a baseline for detecting changes in sand deposits
this weekend, and two stereo pairs to improve coverage of one of the
Murray Buttes. The MAHLI activities were all part of the drill campaign
that was planned in advance, so it was an easy day for me as uplink
lead.

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.

Written by Ken Herkenhoff, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center

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Last Updated
Oct 29, 2024

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