Sols 4107-4109: Drilling Mineral King

Earth planning date: Friday, February 23, 2024

The Curiosity rover remained parked on the Mt. Sharp bedrock with a beautiful view of the upper Gediz Vallis ridge as we embarked on a busy and exciting 3-sol planning day. With preliminary data in hand used to understand the composition and texture of the gray "Mineral King" rock in front of us, we decided to proceed with drilling at this location!

ChemCam and Mastcam teamed up to document the composition and texture of several rocks in the workspace starting with the "Mineral King" target before the start of the drilling activity. ChemCam also scheduled a Z-stack observation (i.e., multiple images over a range of focus settings) to further characterize the pre-drill surface. The team also selected the "Lilley Pass" target to investigate the knobby bedrock beneath "Mineral King," and the nearby "Mather Pass" target to investigate a rock that appears similar in appearance and color to our selected drill target. Mastcam built two stereo mosaics for the weekend plan; one mosaic will document ground disturbances nearby, and the other will extend previous coverage of the "Mount Carillon" region to image the different types of cracks and breaks within the rocks.

Looking up and off into the distance, we have two ChemCam long distance RMI images in the weekend plan. One image will provide insight into the tantalizing rocks at the base of "Fascination Turret" in the upper Gediz Vallis ridge, and the other will get a glimpse behind us at landforms in the Marker Band Valley region. Rounding out these targeted activities is a ChemCam passive sky observation to survey the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere.

Good luck with the plan, Curiosity. Rest assured that you have lots of Earthlings who will be thinking of you over the weekend!

Written by Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum