We received confirmation that the "Duluth" drill sample was delivered to SAM this weekend, so we're ready to run our evolved gas analysis (EGA) tosol!
We received confirmation that the “Duluth” drill sample was delivered to SAM this weekend, so we’re ready to run our evolved gas analysis (EGA) tosol! An EGA basically involves baking the powdered rock sample in a several hundred degree oven, and then measuring the amount and composition of gases that are liberated. Since running the oven requires so much power, we didn’t have the resources to do a whole lot of additional activities in the sol 2072 plan. We did manage to fit in two science blocks that include a ChemCam observation of the target “Bartlett” (we missed acquiring this in the weekend, so will try again), a Navcam dust devil movie, a tau (atmospheric dust) observation, a Mastcam change detection image of the drill taillings pile, and Mastcam 360 degree mosaic to provide color context for the drill sample location.
Written by Abigail Fraeman, Planetary Geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
