Sols 2826-2828: ‘Breamish’ with Delight!

Curiosity has arrived near her next drill location and will spend the weekend analyzing a series of interesting targets in our workspace. The rover will also acquire a series of high-resolution color images, both to identify a suitable drill location in the near-field and to continue its characterization of other geologic units nearby and along the rover’s drive route. These imaging efforts will mostly take place on the first day of the three-day weekend plan. Overnight on the first night, Curiosity will make a series of APXS chemistry measurements on the target named “Breamish” (the rock just above Curiosity’s arm in the displayed image), a platy rock target with some interesting color variations. The second day will be dominated by SAM activities. As these activities are power-intensive, Curiosity will mostly be sleeping during its down time to recharge its batteries. The third day’s science block will include a series of ChemCam LIBS laser ablation measurements of different rock targets, including the Breamish target, a slanted platy rock named “Harthope,” and an effort to acquire evidence for chemical trends with depth on the target named “Back Bay.” Finally, the next morning, Curiosity will acquire some early morning environmental images to look for clouds and to measure the atmospheric dust content. That will conclude Curiosity’s science efforts for the weekend, and will prepare us well for next week’s planned drilling activities!

Written by Mark Salvatore, Planetary Geologist at University of Michigan