MISSION UPDATES | April 17, 2015

Sol 959-961: Daughter of the Sun

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

The short drive on sol 958 was a success, placing us at the
top of a small ridge, facing an outcrop dubbed "Daughter of the Sun". The plan
for sol 959 is to do some ChemCam and Mastcam of targets "Gold" and "Espinoza",
followed by several Mastcam mosaics. The biggest mosaic will be a 26x2 stereo
mosaic looking toward Logan Pass. We also have a 7x3 stereo mosaic of "Daughter
of the Sun" and a 17x1 mosaic of "West Ridge".

On sol 960 we will do a long drive after which DAN will make
some measurements and we will take our standard post-drive images. Then on sol
961 ChemCam will take some calibration measurements and then Mastcam and Navcam
will make several atmospheric observations.

Speaking of taking pictures of the sky, we’re starting to
get data down from our observation of the Mercury sunset transit. So far all we
have are thumbnails ,
but it looks like the full-resolution images are going to be spectacular! by Ryan Anderson -Ryan is a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the ChemCam team on MSL. 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.