The rover will be placed in position to study some interesting knobby textures on Mars. Before driving, the rover will use Navcam to take atmospheric measurements and ChemCam to analyze the targets “Duruchaus”, “Eiseb”, and “Aranos”. Mastcam will document the ChemCam targets, as well as capture images of fine laminations in the rock at the Murray-Stimson contact, extend coverage of the contact with a mosaic, and take a small mosaic of Mirabib and nearby veins using all of Mastcam’s science filters.
Following these tasks, the rover will embark on a short drive towards the knobby texture and conduct post-drive imaging. Due to the knobby texture’s position, it is unlikely that the rover will be able to continue driving past this point. It is anticipated that the rover will return to its current position before proceeding onto the Naukluft plateau.
Ryan Anderson, a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and member of the ChemCam team on MSL, provided this update. The dates of planned rover activities are subject to change due to factors such as the martian environment, communication relays, and rover status.
