Curiosity will be busy over the next few sols as it covers part of the long weekend with a plan that includes environmental monitoring activities and a change detection experiment. The Geology Science Theme Lead faced a challenge fitting everything into the plan while staying within power constraints.
On Sol 1176, Curiosity will acquire ChemCam and Mastcam images of a small patch of sand to assess composition and morphology. The rover will then drive southwest, taking Navcam images for future targeting and running a change detection experiment to monitor sand movement in a small sandsheet.
The second sol will focus on environmental monitoring activities using ChemCam and Mastcam to assess the atmosphere’s composition and opacity. In the morning of Sol 1177, Navcam will be used to monitor the atmosphere and search for dust devils. The afternoon of Sol 1177 will involve using Navcam to monitor the atmosphere and search for dust devils.
Additional activities include ChemCam calibration, a Mastcam mosaic of the local bedrock, a clast survey, and Navcam atmospheric observations. Throughout the plan, REMS will take observations to assess wind speeds as the team monitors the dunes. Adding complexity to the plan, CheMin will dump the “Greenhorn” sample and analyze an empty cell in preparation for upcoming sampling. After a busy holiday plan, Curiosity will take time to rest and recharge before continuing its exploration. Safe travels, Curiosity!
:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/ODIWOCDO45EZNAFALA5VLBHPSQ.jpg)
