Sols 1303-1304: Driving Again

4 April 2016

The Sol 1301 drive halted after only 4.5 meters of progress, apparently due to a short in the RTG that caused a steering actuator fault. This type of fault has occurred before, so we are planning a drive toward the northwest on Sol 1303. Before the drive, lots of remote sensing science is planned, starting with a Right Mastcam mosaic of an outcrop toward the southwest dubbed "Rasthof." Then ChemCam and Mastcam will observe bedrock targets "Tsondab," "Omingonde," and "Marble Koppie," and Mastcam will observe the Sun and the distant crater rim to measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere. After the drive and the usual post-drive observations, on Sol 1304 ChemCam will shoot its laser at its titanium calibration target and Navcam will search for clouds again.



by Ken Herkenhoff