MSL drove over 45 meters on Sol 1428, closer to the Murray Buttes .
I helped select ChemCam targets again this morning, and was glad to see
that some of them made it into the weekend plan. The primary
constraint on planning today ended up being power--we tried to fit more
into the plan than the rover's batteries could support! But we were
still able to include a lot of good activities into the plan, starting
with a dust devil search, dust opacity measurements, and Mastcam stereo
mosaics of the Murray Buttes on Sol 1429. ChemCam will acquire LIBS
data on bedrock targets "Matala," "Cazombo," and "Ondjiva" before the
Right Mastcam takes a 7x3 mosaic that includes the ChemCam targets.
Overnight and into the early morning hours of Sol 1430, SAM will perform
the first part of an experiment on the Mojave drill sample that has
been stored in the instrument for several months. The second part of
the SAM experiment is planned for the next night, completing early on
Sol 1431. Finally, a drive is planned for Sol 1431, followed by
acquisition of the data needed to plan another drive on Monday . So, even though we had to remove some activities during planning, the rover will be very busy this weekend!

by Ken Herkenhoff
Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

MSL drove 11 meters on Sol 1427, and a longer drive is planned for
Sol 1428. I helped select ChemCam targets today; the number of possible
science observations was constrained by the time available before the
drive, so only one LIBS measurement is planned, on a bedrock target
southeast of the rover
named "Xangongo." Mastcam will image this target as well, and measure
the amount of dust in the atmosphere. The amount of data we expect to
receive in time for planning tomorrow
is more limited than usual, so we are unlikely to receive enough
post-drive data to plan both contact science and a drive this weekend.
The tactical team decided that driving has higher priority, so critical
post-drive imaging is focused on supporting mobility planning.
Overnight, CheMin will perform another analysis of the Marimba drill
sample, to improve the quality of mineralogical data.

by Ken Herkenhoff
Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

After successfully completing the drilling activities at Marimba, it’s time to get back on the road. Today’s plan is focused on targeted remote sensing and driving. The plan starts with a Navcam movie to monitor the atmosphere, followed by Mastcam documentation of several autonomously selected ChemCam targets. Then we’ll acquire a couple of ChemCam observations and Mastcam multispectral imaging of the Marimba pre-sieve dump pile before driving away. After a short drive we’ll acquire images for context and targeting. Overnight, Curiosity will complete a SAM electrical baseline test to monitor instrument health. Based on some of the recent Mastcam images that we’ve acquired (as seen above), the view ahead should be quite scenic as we drive through the Murray Buttes!

By Lauren Edgar

--Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the MSL science team.

Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

Today’s plan is focused on retrieving CheMin data from the overnight analysis of the Marimba drill sample and MAHLI and APXS observations of the drill hole and cuttings. The plan starts with a short science block for atmospheric monitoring, followed by CheMin data readout. Then we’ll do a short Mastcam change detection activity before dumping the pre-sieved drill sample. After we dump the sample, we’ll acquire Mastcam, Navcam and MAHLI images to document the pile. In the afternoon, we’ll repeat the atmospheric monitoring and change detection activities. Overnight, Curiosity will stay active, starting with MAHLI nighttime imaging of the drill hole to better control illumination conditions, followed by MAHLI imaging of the CheMin inlet, and finally, an overnight APXS integration on the full drill tailings. This drill site has been challenging, but we’re back on track and ready to drive away soon!

By Lauren Edgar

--Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the MSL science team.

Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

The second attempt to drill into Marimba went well,

but the new drill sample was not transferred to CHIMRA due to a
recurrence of the electrical short in the percussion mechanism.
Therefore, the sample was not delivered to CheMin as planned. So we
tried again on Sol 1425, this time without percussion (using
only more gentle vibration). This made for a rather busy day for me as
SOWG Chair, but once the engineering team decided that it was safe to
proceed, planning went very smoothly. We were able to add some remote
science observations before the sample transfer
and dropoff to CheMin: Mastcam will take images of the drill tailings
through all filters, ChemCam will acquire passive spectra of the new
drill tailings and the sieved Oudam sample pile, and a LIBS observation
of the drill hole wall. CheMin will analyze
the Marimba drill sample overnight, then Mastcam will measure the dust
in the atmosphere early on the morning of Sol 1426.

by Ken Herkenhoff Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

On Sol 1420 we planned a full drill hole on the target "Marimba" to characterize the composition of the Murray mudstone in this location. However, we came in early this morning to find that the drill hole didn’t penetrate very far into this rock target, as seen in the above MAHLI image. We’re trying to evaluate why this drill hole is different, and what prevented the drill from completing as planned. The rover is healthy and all other activities completed successfully, so this might just be a harder rock target than we’ve seen before.
I was the GSTL today, and it was a complicated morning as we worked through several options for today’s plan. We decided to stick to remote sensing today while we continue to evaluate the drill activity and options moving forward. The GEO group decided to take advantage of the shallow drill hole as a way to assess variations in chemistry with depth. So we planned some Mastcam multispectral and ChemCam passive observations of the drill tailings, as well as a ChemCam LIBS observation across the drill hole. The plan also includes a ChemCam observation of "Cabinda" to assess an alternative drill site, as well as the target "Epukiro" to investigate an interesting vein. We’ll also use Mastcam and ChemCam to assess the post-sieve dump piles from the previous drill target "Oudam," which we dumped on a nearby rock slab. Then Curiosity will use Mastcam and Navcam to monitor the atmosphere and search for dust devils. In the afternoon, we’ll acquire a 360-degree Mastcam mosaic to provide geologic context for this drill site. I’ll be on duty again tomorrow, hoping to pick back up with drilling activities!

By Lauren Edgar

--Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the MSL science team.

Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

The Sol 1419 activities completed successfully, including cleaning the remaining Oudam sample out of CHIMRA. So the focus of the Sol 1420 plan is drilling into the
Marimba bedrock target. But first, MAHLI will image the "noseprint" of
the APXS contact sensor in the Oudam dump pile and the drill target from
various distances. After the drilling has completed, the drill bit and
the new drill hole will be imaged by many of the MSL cameras. And once
again, we were able to fit some additional Mastcam observations into
the plan: Measurements of dust in the atmosphere, a stereo mosaic
extending coverage of the arm workspace, images of targets "Cota 1" and
"Cota 2" to serve as a baseline for detecting changes in sand deposits
this weekend, and two stereo pairs to improve coverage of one of the
Murray Buttes. The MAHLI activities were all part of the drill campaign
that was planned in advance, so it was an easy day for me as uplink
lead.

by Ken Herkenhoff
Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

The drilling campaign on Marimba
continues, dominating the Sol 1419 plan. Again, the tactical
operations team was able to squeeze some additional science activities
into the plan: ChemCam and Mastcam will observe a laminated bedrock
exposure called "Namibe," and the Right Mastcam will image the two
targets autonomously observed by ChemCam on Sol 1417. Then the arm work
resumes, with a brief interruption for a Mastcam stereo mosaic of
Murray Buttes in the afternoon. After CHIMRA is cleaned and inspected
by the cameras, MAHLI will image the last of the previous drill sample
and APXS placed on the dump pile for an overnight integration. I'll be
MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead tomorrow , so I dialed in to tactical operations meetings today to keep up to date.

by Ken Herkenhoff
Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

Today’s plan was all about setting up for our next drill hole. Originally there was going to be no science block at all, but we ended up with a little bit more power than expected, so we managed to fit in a ChemCam observation of the expected drill target, called "Marimba" along with Mastcam documentation. Once that was done, the rover dumped its sieved sample from our previous drill at "Oudam" and did some contact science on Marimba. This included MAHLI and APXS of the drill location before and after brushing the dust off, Mastcam inspection of various rover components, and the "pre-load" test where we make sure the rock can handle the pressure exerted by the drill. If all of that goes well, we should be able to drill later this week! by Ryan Anderson -Ryan is a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the ChemCam team on MSL. Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the martian environment, communication relays and rover status

MSL drove another 44 meters on Sol 1414, into an area with larger blocks of bedrock .
This looks like a good area to drill into the Murray Formation, so
nearby targets were selected and we are planning a short drive to
position the vehicle for drilling. But first, ChemCam and Mastcam will
observe bedrock targets "Chibia" and "Dondo." Mastcam will also measure
the dust in the atmosphere and take an image of the Sol 1414 ChemCam
AEGIS target. Then the arm will be deployed for lots of contact science
and standard images of the wheels. MAHLI will take pictures of Chibia
before the DRT is used to brush it off, then take lots of stereo images
of the brushed spot. MAHLI will also acquire a full suite of images of
Dondo before the APXS measures its elemental chemistry. After sunset,
the APXS will be placed on Chibia for an overnight integration. Early
on Sol 1417, Navcam will search for clouds and dust devils, Mastcam will
again measure atmospheric dust, and ChemCam will measure atmospheric
chemistry. The bump to the potential drill targets will be followed by
acquisition of imaging and other data needed to plan the drill campaign
and other activities next week. Finally, AEGIS will be used for the
first time to autonomously select two targets and acquire ChemCam data
on both of them. This is a very full and complex plan, so I (as
MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead) and the rest of the team were very busy today!

by Ken Herkenhoff Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.