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Everything went well in yesterday’s plan, with our drive taking us 25 meters farther along our "Mt. Sharp Ascent Route." We started the day with some challenges caused by connectivity issues with team members outside of the US, particularly the ChemCam team. They were able to get at least one computer connected to JPL, however, so we were able to plan without too much trouble overall. Today’s plan for sol 1503 is pretty straightforward: We start off with a ChemCam observation and Mastcam documentation of the target "Somesville" to study how the composition of the bedrock changes across a light-to-dark transition. After that, we will drive and then do post-drive imaging, including some extra Mastcam and Navcam coverage. I dialed in to operations today to advocate adding a couple of Navcam images of Mt. Sharp so that over the weekend we can do a long-distance RMI observation. 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