Sols 2846-2848: Continuing Along the “Sol Path”

We received confirmation very early this morning that Wednesday’s planned SAM sample bake was successful. This weekend we will therefore continue with activities to further analyze the "Mary Anning" drilled sample. On the first sol of the plan we will prepare SAM for analyzing the sample in a slightly different way, and we are planning to do this supplementary analysis early next week. The second sol of the plan contains ChemCam analyses of two targets named “Clamshell Cove” and “Musselburgh.” We’ll also analyze the portion of the Mary Anning sample that was already delivered to CheMin for a second night. On the third sol of the plan we will measure the amount of argon in the atmosphere with APXS, collect more information about the walls of the drill hole with ChemCam, and image a small trough near Curiosity named “Upper Ollach.” Today was a very smooth planning day overall, which is always a nice thing to be able to say when you’re operating a science laboratory on another planet from your couch!

Written by Abigail Fraeman, Planetary Geologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory