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Sols 1634-1635: Back to nominal MAHLI planning

MSL drove about 29 meters toward the south on Sol 1632, and is in a good position for weekend activities. The MAHLI images taken onSol 1632 look good, and the dust cover is working properly, so MAHLI is ready to return to nominal operations! The tactical planning team thereforeselected contact science targets on a block right in front of the roverthat shows interesting color variations. This bedrock block is tooclose to the rover to allow ChemCam data to be safely acquired, so anearby exposure was selected for an analogous measurement andnamed "Hurricane Mountain." I helped plan ChemCam observations today,and picked a nearly-vertical layered bedrock target that we called"Hardwood Mountain." Right Mastcam will image these targets and take a4x3 mosaic of another bedrock block dubbed "Rocky Mountain." Mastcam will also acquire a multispectral set
of images of "North Haven," a collection of pebbles near HurricaneMountain, and survey the sky in the afternoon. Then MAHLI will take 5images of "Canada Falls" from various distances before the APXS isplaced on the first of 3 closely-spaced Canada Falls targets. Aftersunset, APXS data will be gathered on all 3 spots, using the arm to reposition the instrument between integrations.

Early onSol 1635, Navcam will search for clouds and Mastcam will measure thedust in the atmosphere. Later in the day, more drill diagnostic testsare planned, followed by another set of Mastcam dust observations. Then
the rover will drive toward the nearby dune and acquire data that willbe used to select a target for the next drive, which will hopefullyposition the rover well for contact science on the dune sand.

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