Sols 1375-1377: Another busy weekend

The Sol 1373 drive
completed successfully, moving the rover over 31 meters toward the
south. There's lots of bedrock exposed around the vehicle, but no flat
patches large enough to brush in the arm workspace .

So MAHLI will take images of an unbrushed target called "Andara" before
the APXS is placed on it for an overnight integration. Before these
arm activities on Sol 1375, ChemCam and the Right Mastcam will observe
Andara and other bedrock targets "Okoloti,"
"Kalkfeld," and "Khorixas." Mastcam will then acquire a stereo mosaic
of a nice outcrop toward the southwest dubbed "Baynes Mountains" and a left-eye mosaic of another outcrop northwest of the rover. The
CheMin team requested another portion of the Oudam drill sample, which
will be delivered late that afternoon. After dark, MAHLI will image the
CheMin inlet using its LEDs for illumination.

Late in the morning of
Sol 1376, APXS will integrate again on Andara to compare the quality of
data acquired at different temperatures. Then the arm will be stowed
for a long (about 55 meters) drive, which will
be followed by the usual post-drive imaging and another ChemCam AEGIS
(autonomously-targeted) observation.

On Sol 1377, the Left
Mastcam will acquire a mosaic of the rover deck, to serve as a baseline
for comparison with future images taken after passing the sand dunes
along the path ahead. Sand blown across the
rover might remove some of the dust on the rover deck. Finally, CheMin
will analyze the new Oudam sample portion overnight. It should be
another busy weekend for MSL!

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