Sol 2572-2573: Central Butte Rocks

Curiosity made an almost 10 m drive to approach a "butte"iful outcrop at the base of "Central" butte, an erosional remnant of the pediment in front of us. With a key geologic contact between two different layers a few meters ahead, we're planning a "touch-n-go" on sol 2572 with two APXS measurements, ChemCam, MAHLI, and Mastcam on rock "Glen Mark," an additional ChemCam on "Fourpenny", a Mastcam of nearby "Pittodrie" looking for nodules in the rock, and a Mastcam mosaic of layered outcrop "Hunda" in front of us which is composed of fine layered bedding. We're also firing up CheMin for an empty cell analysis to get ready for the next drill location. On sol 2773, the rover will go through its nominal list of untargeted ChemCam acquisitions, a dust-devil survey, and Mastcam line-of-sight extinction to measure dust in the atmosphere.