Sols 1371-1372: Driving south

13 June 2016

The weekend drive went well, and Curiosity drove ~ 32 m to the south. This southward path will eventually take us through a gap in the active sand dunes that will be easier for Curiosity to traverse. We’re planning another drive today, which will take us in the direction of the above Navcam image.

Today’s two-sol plan consists of several ChemCam and Mastcam observations of the Murray formation to assess variations in texture and chemistry. We also planned a small Mastcam mosaic to document some nearby cross-stratification and nodules, and a small MAHLI mosaic of the target “Berg Aukas” before driving away. After the drive, we’ll acquire our standard set of post-drive imaging for context and targeting. The second sol includes a small untargeted science block, which we filled with a ChemCam autonomously selected target and a Mastcam observation to monitor the opacity of the atmosphere.

By Lauren Edgar

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