I was MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead again for Sol 227 planning, but again
didn't have much to do (just moving images between camera and rover
memory). The focus has been on SAM and CheMin analyses of the first
drill sample, and they are getting some good data. The rover is
operating well on the B computer ,
and despite some concerns about differences between the A and B sides,
ChemCam pointing has been excellent. The laser successfully acquired
chemical data on the wall of the first full drill hole !

At long last, the MSL team has resumed planning science observations!
I was MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead on Monday, and although we didn't plan
any activities with those cameras, it was good to be involved in
tactical operations again. The engineering team is still working to
fully understand the Sol 200 anomaly, so we are proceeding carefully,
not using the arm yet.

I'm scheduled as MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead again today, but there's nothing for me to do because the engineers at JPL are still working to
recover from recent software anomalies. The latest fault
was not serious, but delayed the return to nominal science operations. The instruments have been turned on and checked out on the "B"
computer, so we are ready to go when the anomaly recovery is completed.

I'm SOWG Chair again today, but because anomaly recovery continues we are not planning science activities. So I was able to watch the MSL press conference at NASA Headquarters this morning, during which the discovery of clay minerals and possible organic material in the first drill sample was announced . The mineralogy and chemistry of the sample indicates that the environment was more habitable than in other locations on Mars. The water was less acidic than the fluids that formed the sulfate-rich rocks analyzed by the MER rovers, and therefore more conducive to any organisms that may have been there. As pointed out during the press briefing, MSL was never intended to detect life, but has achieved one of the main goals of the mission, to determine whether the ancient environment could have supported life. Because the organic material found by SAM could have been brought from Earth, another drill sample should be acquired and processed to confirm that it is Martian. The first drilling and sample handling should have removed most of whatever terrestrial contamination remains on the drill and other hardware, so future samples should not be contaminated. Of course, the MSL team is very excited about these new results!

I'm scheduled to serve as SOWG Chair today and tomorrow, but we won't be able to plan any new science observations because the recovery from the Sol 200 anomaly is not yet complete. Unfortunately, it appears that we won't resume normal science planning until next week. But the science team recognizes the importance of keeping the rover healthy, and will continue to be patient as the engineers work the problem.

Rather than continue with recovery efforts, MSL will be shut down due to intense solar activity. A big "coronal mass ejection" is predicted to hit Mars on Sol 207, so the rover will be commanded to go to sleep to avoid problems like the Sol 200 anomaly. Space weather can by nasty!

The engineering and instrument teams are working to set up MSL's "B" computer with all the parameter settings needed to resume science operations. It looks like this process will take all week, so we have to be patient while they check everything out. At the same time, an anomaly response team is working to fully understand the fault on the "A" computer.

As the MSL engineering team continues to study the Sol 200 anomaly, tactical science planning has been cancelled through this weekend. The rover has two computers, and has been running on the A side until yesterday, when commands were sent to boot up the B side. The rover is safe in this configuration, and if necessary we could continue to operate the rover on the B side. But the focus now is on understanding the anomaly and how to recover from it. Of course I'm concerned about this situation, but I've seen JPL spacecraft experts recover from more serious problems, and am therefore confident that they will solve this one as well.

During Sol 200, MSL was unable to save data to part of its memory, so the rover stopped what it was doing and waited for more instructions. The engineering team at JPL is analyzing the available telemetry to determine how to recover from this anomaly, and the Sol 201 plan was cancelled. The problem does not sound very serious, but I'm not an engineer and don't know much of the details. As more telemetry is received, the experts will probably figure out what caused the problem and how to avoid it in the future. But for now we have to be patient.

I'm scheduled as MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead 4 days this week. The first planning day, for Sol 200, was rather quiet for me, with just a single MAHLI activity (pulling old images out of the camera's memory and preparing less-compressed versions). Most of the rover power continues to be used to analyze the first drill sample in Chemin and SAM.