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We had an early-morning (6 AM on the west coast!) start to planning today, which was a bit painful but with the help of lots of caffeine we put together another plan full of good science! The exciting news from the weekend plan is that the MAHLI dust cover closed as planned, so we're back in business with MAHLI.
The Sol 1630 plan will start with ChemCam observations of a vein called "Temple Stream", a soil target called "Mattawamkeag", and the bedrock target "Vassalboro" to coordinate with an APXS observation of "Sangerville". MAHLI will also observe Sangerville, and Mastcam will document each of these targets. After that, the plan is to drive about 40 meters and collect some post-drive imaging.
Since we're driving on sol 1630, sol 1631 will be dedicated to untargeted science. ChemCam has an AEGIS observation, as well as some calibration observations. This will be followed by Navcam and Mastcam atmospheric observations, including several observations to watch for dust devils.
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