Sols 1300-1302: Approaching the Edge of the Plateau

1 April 2016

Everything went well in Wednesday’s plan, and we are near the edge of the Naukluft plateau, driving across “Stimson” bedrock. The weekend plan begins on Sol 1300 with three ChemCam observations of the bedrock target “Bero” and fracture targets “Iona”, “and “Arco” along with Mastcam documentation. This is followed up by some MAHLI and Mastcam images of Bero before and after brushing off the dust. MAHLI also has some images of Gudaus and APXS will measure the composition of Gudaus and Bero.

In the early morning on Sol 1301, Mastcam has 4 mosaics of various portions of the Stimson unit. These include areas with fractures and nodules, as well as some interesting layers in a nearby outcrop. After that, the plan is to drive about 50 meters and collect our standard post-drive images.

On Sol 1302, Navcam and Mastcam have a bunch of atmospheric observations, and ChemCam has a long-distance observation of Peace Vallis, the large valley carved into the northern rim of the crater. Mastcam will then round out the day with a large 360 degree panorama from our end-of-drive location.

Next week we are having a team meeting out in Pasadena, so there will probably be a hiatus in our blogging.

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