MISSION UPDATES | August 2, 2016

Sol 1419: Cleaning CHIMRA

Written by Ken Herkenhoff, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center

The drilling campaign on Marimba
continues, dominating the Sol 1419 plan. Again, the tactical
operations team was able to squeeze some additional science activities
into the plan: ChemCam and Mastcam will observe a laminated bedrock
exposure called "Namibe," and the Right Mastcam will image the two
targets autonomously observed by ChemCam on Sol 1417. Then the arm work
resumes, with a brief interruption for a Mastcam stereo mosaic of
Murray Buttes in the afternoon. After CHIMRA is cleaned and inspected
by the cameras, MAHLI will image the last of the previous drill sample
and APXS placed on the dump pile for an overnight integration. I'll be
MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead tomorrow , so I dialed in to tactical operations meetings today to keep up to date.

by Ken Herkenhoff
Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.