To begin our preparations for the upcoming holiday weekend, we have scheduled two sols to get a head start on our planning. As the SOWG Chair, I had to weigh various options for activities, including mobility and contact science with or without brushing. This made for an exciting day as we worked out our plans.
At the beginning of our process, we decided not to move the rover. Instead, our top priority was to brush and investigate a potential drill target just to the right of the Newmachar brush spot. Although we won’t finalize the drill target today, the area to be brushed on Sol 1966, known as “Lake Orcadie,” is likely to include it.
Before using the DRT on Lake Orcadie, ChemCam will measure its elemental composition at 9 points in a 3×3 raster. MAHLI will take images from 25 and 5 cm above the surface, while ChemCam will shoot its laser at another contact science target named “Forties” to clean some of the dust off the surface before MAHLI and APXS examine it later in the day.
After that, MAHLI will acquire a full suite of images of the brushed spot before APXS is placed on it for an overnight integration. Today’s activities are diverse and require careful planning to ensure that we collect all necessary data for our investigations.
As we work towards completing these tasks, we must keep in mind that each sol brings new challenges and opportunities. We must remain flexible and adaptable as we continue our mission to explore Mars and uncover its mysteries.
Overall, today has been an interesting day as we planned out our sols for tomorrow’s holiday weekend festivities. With careful planning and execution, we hope to make significant progress towards achieving our research goals and furthering humanity’s understanding of this fascinating planet.
