MISSION UPDATES | October 15, 2019

Sol 2557: Scuffing Sand

Written by Fred Calef, Planetary Geologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Rover wheel scuff at "Culbin Sands."

Rover wheel scuff at "Culbin Sands." Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Yestersol's drive purposely ran over a megaripple (fine grained sandy ripple with a coarser pebble coating) to create a "scuff" which churned up and bisected the feature to observe any layering or material within. Today, the science team chose to inspect the interior of the wheel track scuff and the original undisturbed ripple surface. ChemCam targeted "Sandwood Bay," the fine-grained, disturbed scuff wall and "Glensanda," the coarser grained ripple flank, along with documentation Mastcam color imaging. The rover also plans to exercise its arm and explore the chemical signature of the sand with an APXS measurement over the ripple crest called "High Plains." To investigate the grain size and angularity, MAHLI is planned, at various heights, to cover High Plains as well as "Burrowgate" in the scuff and "Corsewall," along the scuff wall, of course! Lastly, a Mastcam mosaic will cover this ripply area, dubbed "Culbin Sands," in color imaging.