Today, we are planning two Martian days, or sols, to start preparing for the upcoming holiday weekend. As the SOWG Chair, I had the task of considering various options for the day’s activities, including mobility and contact science tasks with or without brushing. It was a busy and interesting day of planning ahead.
We made the decision early on not to move the rover and to prioritize brushing and investigating a potential drill target located just to the right of the Newmachar brush spot. While we won’t be able to finalize the drill target today, the area to be brushed on Sol 1966, known as “Lake Orcadie,” is expected to include the drill target. Before using the drill on Lake Orcadie, ChemCam will analyze its elemental composition at nine points in a 3×3 raster, while MAHLI will capture images from 25 and 5 cm above the surface.
Additionally, ChemCam will target another area for contact science called “Forties” with its laser to clean off some of the dust on the surface. Later in the day, MAHLI and APXS will examine this spot. MAHLI will also take a series of images of the brushed area before APXS is placed on it for an overnight integration. It promises to be a productive and exciting day of exploration on Mars.