MISSION UPDATES | December 18, 2018

Sol 2264: Science and Good Times at Rock Hall

Written by Kristen Bennett, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center
Sol 2264: Science and Good Times at Rock Hall

We are still very excited and happy that the final drill hole, "Rock Hall," on Vera Rubin Ridge was successful over the weekend. Now we get to analyze the drilled sample with rover instruments. We are planning one sol today, and the big event will be delivering some of the Rock Hall sample to the CheMin instrument.

Additionally, ChemCam LIBS is planned to target the drill hole to understand the chemistry, and a Mastcam 360-degree mosaic is planned to document the surroundings around the drill hole.

Although the drill was successful over the weekend, a few of the remote science observations were not obtained. To recover some of those observations, today we plan to retake the "Lairig Ghru" Mastcam observation that will document layering near Curiosity.