Sol 3422: On Second Thought, Let’s Not Drive Over There. It Is a Silly Place.

The original plan for today was to do a short drive to get within reach of some interesting new rocks. But after studying all of the images from our current location, the team realized that we can already reach some very similar rocks. By staying in one place, we were able to get a lot more science out of the day’s plan while reducing the risk of driving and ending up tilted in a position where we would not be able to use the arm.

The plan begins with a ChemCam observation of the bedrock target “Dollar” followed by a couple of long-distance ChemCam image mosaics of Gediz Vallis ridge. Then we have a Mastcam stereo mosaic of some of the interesting ridges in the middle distance plus some additional images of the “gatorback” terrain and a documentation image of Dollar. The morning science block then concludes with a Navcam movie to watch for dust devils.

The afternoon and evening are all about using the rover’s arm, with a whopping 4 contact science targets in the plan! After brushing the target “Calder,” we’ll take MAHLI pictures of it and of the other targets: “Scandal Beck,” which was yesterday’s ChemCam target, “Ashkirk,” and “Breakyneck.” In the evening, APXS will measure the chemistry of Ashkirk and Calder. Finally, in the morning of Sol 3423, Mastcam will take a 360-degree left-eye mosaic of our surroundings.

Not bad for a day's work! Sometimes it's better to take a closer look at what's around you, rather than rushing to somewhere new.

Written by Ryan Anderson, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center