Sol 476-477 Update On Curiosity From USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Good Time for an Upgrade

I'm uplink lead for the Opportunity Microscopic Imager and engineering cameras (Hazcams and Navcams) today, so have not been able to follow MSL planning as closely as usual. Operating two rovers on Mars at the same time is a good problem to have! The MSL weekend plan includes more MAHLI imaging of the rover wheels and a short drive to a location that looks good for dumping and examining the drill sample. If all goes well, most of next week will be spend upgrading the rover flight software. Many of the MSL scientists will be attending the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco next week, so it's a good time for the software upgrade, which will preclude scientific observations. During the meeting, there will be a press briefing summarizing recent science results.

Written by Ken Herkenhoff, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center