Sol 1350: Data processing delay

I'm SOWG Chair again today, and started browsing the latest
data from MSL early this morning. To my dismay, the post-drive images
that we expected to receive in time for planning today were not
available! It turned out that the data were received on Earth, but the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter operations team had some problems processing and transferring it to us. We waited as long as we could for the data needed
to plan contact science or mobility activities, then decided that we
should plan Sol 1350 without them because planning time is limited by
the early uplink window--we have to have the plan
ready to send to the rover by this evening. Fortunately, the images
needed to pick remote sensing targets were processed in time to point
ChemCam and Mastcam at the outcrop in front of the rover .

Planning targeted remote sensing is much easier than planning contact
science or mobility, so the Sol 1350 plan includes ChemCam/Mastcam
observations of "Oamites," "Aruab" and "Hosabes" as well as Mastcam
images of the Sun and distant crater rim and Navcam
searches for clouds and dust devils. Mastcam will also acquire
calibration data at various times of day (temperatures), and CheMin will
perform another analysis of the Lubango drill sample.

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