Sols 3296-3299: It’s Like Deja Vu All Over Again!

Another science-filled weekend is in store for Curiosity, who will be acquiring several large Mastcam mosaics, several ChemCam LIBS observations, some early morning images of a nearby outcrop, and some additional imaging of the Zechstein drill hole, not to mention a handful of ENV activities as well! Plus, in the middle sol of the plan, Curiosity will transfer drilled material to SAM for analysis using the evolved gas analyzer (EGA).

Now, for those of you blog enthusiasts who might feel that today’s science activities seem oddly similar to yesterday’s activities, you are not mistaken! Wednesday’s plan unfortunately did not uplink to the rover due to a DSN issue, and so the team planned to recover those lost activities in the weekend plan. Fortunately, the rover has been in good shape with regards to power, and so we are able to ensure that these important science observations can be recovered!

And for today’s image, I think it’s fitting that we repeat yesterday’s blog image as well. Not only is it consistent with our repeated plan, but it’s also just a really beautiful image from a great perspective!

Written by Mark Salvatore, Planetary Geologist at University of Michigan