MISSION UPDATES | August 22, 2017

Sol 1794: A Simple Plan

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

After the excitement of a mid-planning solar eclipse yesterday, today was pretty uneventful! We had a nice long pre-drive science block which we stuffed with 2 ChemCam observations to measure the chemistry of targets "Boiler" and "Biljim" as well as a ChemCam image mosaic of the Vera Rubin Ridge. Mastcam will take pictures of each of the ChemCam targets, as well as of a knob of rock dubbed "Bombazine." Once those observations are finished, Curiosity will drive about 23 meters to place a nice patch of outcrop in the work area to be analyzed tomorrow. After the drive, we will do some post-drive imaging for targeting tomorrow, as well as a ChemCam auto-targeted observation, a dust devil survey, and an observation to watch for clouds.