Sols 1337-1338: Curiosity’s two-day arm challenge, followed by a selfie

9 May 2016

Today’s two-sol plan is going to be quite an arm workout for Curiosity. Over the weekend, Curiosity transferred and sieved the “Okoruso” drill sample, and analyzed it with CheMin. That means that today’s plan is focused on arm activities and imaging the drill location. The plan starts by dumping the pre-sieved drill sample. Then we’ll use Mastcam to image the dump pile and drill site. Next, we’ll target the drill hole with ChemCam, and we’ll also characterize a nearby bedrock target named “Ubib,” followed by a MAHLI image of the dump pile. Overnight, it’s time for another arm workout – this time focused on MAHLI nighttime imaging of the drill hole and “Ubib” under different illumination conditions. On the first sol, that’s already several hours of arm activities, while holding a 66 pound (30 kg) turret at the end. After such an intense workout, what’s next? Time for a selfie. On the second sol Curiosity will take a MAHLI self portrait to document the drill site. But unlike most selfies, Curiosity’s selfie requires 60 different images, and will take nearly an hour to acquire. Finally, we’ll give the arm a break, and Curiosity will take several ChemCam and Mastcam observations of the drill tailings in the afternoon. Talk about a good workout (for a lot of great science).

By Lauren Edgar

--Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the MSL science team.