The second attempt to drill into Marimba went well, but the new drill sample was not transferred to CHIMRA due to arecurrence of the electrical short in the percussion mechanism.
The second attempt to drill into Marimba went well,
but the new drill sample was not transferred to CHIMRA due to a
recurrence of the electrical short in the percussion mechanism.
Therefore, the sample was not delivered to CheMin as planned. So we
tried again on Sol 1425, this time without percussion (using
only more gentle vibration). This made for a rather busy day for me as
SOWG Chair, but once the engineering team decided that it was safe to
proceed, planning went very smoothly. We were able to add some remote
science observations before the sample transfer
and dropoff to CheMin: Mastcam will take images of the drill tailings
through all filters, ChemCam will acquire passive spectra of the new
drill tailings and the sieved Oudam sample pile, and a LIBS observation
of the drill hole wall. CheMin will analyze
the Marimba drill sample overnight, then Mastcam will measure the dust
in the atmosphere early on the morning of Sol 1426.
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
