MISSION UPDATES | January 30, 2015

Sol 884: Sample Transfer to CheMin

Written by Lauren Edgar, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center

After successfully
drilling the target "Mojave2" on Sol 882, the next step is to deliver the
sample to CheMin for analysis. We
acquired some great Mastcam and MAHLI images of the drill hole and mini drill hole, and we’re looking forward to
learning more about the composition of this sample.

The main activities
in today’s plan are to transfer, sieve, and drop-off the sample to CheMin, and
also to acquire APXS on the drill tailings.
The plan also includes a few additional frames to fill in the MAHLI self
portrait.

And even though
today is a Friday and we would normally be planning 3 sols to cover the
weekend, the team has decided to take advantage of some Saturday operations to
maximize our number of planning days. A
big thanks to those team members who volunteered to work tomorrow! The rest of us will be traveling to Pasadena
this weekend for our team meeting next week.
I’m sure there will be a lot of new data to discuss! By Lauren Edgar

--Lauren is a
Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of MSL
science team.

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.