The "touch and go" planned for Sol 102 went well , the data arriving in time for planning Sol 104. There was a lot of discussion of whether to "bump" the rover a few meters farther to improve the view toward Yellowknife Bay , our near-term drive objective. Ultimately we decided to stay put, which allowed us to accurately target Mastcam mosaics in the Sol 105-107 plan. I was SOWG Chair for this first of 2 "multisol" plans which would allow the operations team to take a break during the Thanksgiving holiday. Because it was the first time we had planned more than one sol's worth of activities at a time, we kept the plan simple. In addition to the Mastcam mosaics, we planned some atmospheric observations and DAN (neutron spectrometer) measurements in our new location. This planning approach worked well, without stressing the tactical team very much. Still, I was glad when we were done, as I needed a break from tactical operations to catch up on other work before the holiday. Happy Thanksgiving!

Overall, my first shift as SOWG Chair since the transition to remote operations went well. The better tool for sharing video on the web was not working again today, so we had to resort to the backup tool, which again was slower and frustrating at times. But we couldn't plan much science anyway because today was a "restricted" sol. On of the disadvantages of working on "Earth time" (reasonable hours Pacific time) is that, almost half the time, we receive data from MSL too late in the day to react to it tactically. So we have to plan a day in advance, and assume that the previously planned activities went well. We planned a 35-meter drive yesterday, but won't know how it went until late this afternoon. Therefore, we could plan only activities that didn't depend on accurate knowledge of the rover position and orientation. The most important activity we planned for Sol 103 is a checkout of MSL's drill, which won't take too long, so we had room for opportunistic science activities. These included a DAN active measurement of the hydrogen below the surface at our new location, and a 180-degree Navcam panorama to complete the coverage of the area surrounding the rover. We'll use the latter to plan observations over the Thanksgiving holiday, assuming all goes well.

I'm back on tactical operations tomorrow as SOWG Chair, so I'm following along with Sol 102 planning to get up to speed after being away at the ChemCam team meeting. The rover drove to a nearby rock target yesterday, and the plan is to drive 35 meters on Sol 102 after placing the APXS on the nearby rock target for a short chemistry measurement. The rover will stop early in the drive to look back at the scuff in the ripple using Mastcam. This is a fairly complex plan, and I'm happy to see that the ops team is taking it on. We had some trouble with one of the web video sharing tools today, so had to use a backup system that is slower (long delay relative to phone/real time). Otherwise, remote operations are going well and MSL is healthy. It helps that I can recognize most of the voices on the phone!

The ChemCam science team meeting went well, but we have a lot of work to do. Of course everyone knew this before the meeting, and now we are more focused on the most important tasks. We have a lot of excellent data, and the most important near-term goal is to broaden the range of rocks and minerals in the database that is used to match Mars spectra with known materials. We knew roughly what to expect before MSL delivered ChemCam to Mars, and built the database appropriately. But it is clear that expanding the database will improve the fidelity of the mineralogic modeling, so it must be done soon. I presented my work on RMI image compression testing, which is much less important but will allow us to significantly reduce the data volume of each image, in turn allowing us to acquire and return more images to Earth.

I'm at the Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland for a ChemCam science team meeting this week. The location was chosen, in part, to make traveling easier overall--it's between France and JPL. Some of the team members are supporting MSL tactical operations so that the rest of us can focus on the meeting. It's nice to take a break from operations and think about ChemCam data analysis and interpretation, but difficult to keep up with what the rover is doing. One of the people who is working operations reported that the latest SAM analysis had to be pulled out of yesterday's plan because there wasn't enough power to do it and the decontamination heating that ChemCam needs every week or so. This must have been very frustrating for the operations team!

The plan for Sol 96 was dominated by continued arm activities, with little room for "opportunistic science." So my last shift as SUR (this week) was fairly easy. The plan included dropping another soil sample into the SAM instrument, with Mastcam and MAHLI support imaging. As we stepped through each sequence in detail, I was again impressed by the complexity of the arm, CHIMRA in particular. Fortunately, there is a team of very capable engineers who are focused on operating the arm. Thanks to them, the arm activities have been going well. I'm getting more used to remote operations, but following the details of various discussions is still challenging.

There was applause in the MSL SOWG meeting room and on the phone lines as the first SAM results on solid Martian material were announced. The instrument appears to be working well, and the team is busy analyzing the new data. The plan for Sol 95 therefore included another SAM "preconditioning" activity to prepare for another scoop sample. The more complicated part of the plan involved lots of arm motion to process and drop the rest of the scoop 5 sample to the observation tray and measure it with APXS. This will allow results from various instruments to be compared, which will allow the team to more fully understand the detailed composition of the soil sample and to compare the calibration of the instruments. MAHLI images of the material on the observation tray will be taken to determine how much material is measured by APXS. It was nearly midnight in Flagstaff when my shift ended, almost like being on Mars time!

The fifth scoop of Martian soil was successful , and Sol 94 planning was focussed on processing the sample and delivering it to CheMin. The X-ray diffraction instrument will then analyze the sample overnight. There was enough power and time left for a couple Mastcam mosaics in the afternoon.

I served as Science Uplink Representative (SUR) for the first time since Sol 3. The operations schedule has been significantly compressed since then , so had less time to get my job done. And this was my first tactical shift since the transition to remote operations, which added the challenge of interacting with the rest of the team from my office in Flagstaff. We had some trouble with the web broadcast tool that were overcome by starting over a couple times, otherwise planning went well. The SUR is the science team lead for the second shift, so I ended up working until almost 11 PM local time. This would have been less of a problem if the first storm of the season hit Flagstaff the same night. During a break between the last two sequence reviews, I decided to drive home before the roads got icy. It was more difficult to participate in the last meeting using my laptop and home phone, but it worked. Hopefully the weather will be better for Sol 95 planning.

I made it home to Flagstaff last night despite being detoured by a fire that closed I-15 near Cajon Pass. I verified that the web tools and phone access to the MSL tactical planning meetings worked well, and followed the SOWG meeting planning Sol 91. The tools are similar to those we have been using for the Opportunity rover, so it was easy for me to get connected. So while it would be nice to still be working operations at JPL, it's good to be home and I'm confident that remote operations will work well. I'm not staffed in a tactical shift until Friday, so was not fully engaged in planning today. But it's clear that all is going well. The focus is on preparing SAM for delivery of its first solid sample, which involved a "dry run" that went well and preconditioning on Sol 91. Most SAM activities require a lot of power, as expected, so there wasn't much room for other science. But the science team squeezed in some ChemCam and Navcam observations, along with the normal background REMS, DAN and RAD measurements.

I served as SOWG Chair for my last MSL tactical shift on Mars time. It was bittersweet: I'll miss working with the whole team at JPL, but I'm looking forward to going home. We are learning how to more effectively operate the rover with most of the team being "remote" (working from their home institutions rather than in residence at JPL). The transition to remote operations is going well, but we are still working to find better ways to communicate. We have multiple videoconferencing lines set up, but it impossible for the tactical leadership to call in to all of them. We are also using internet chat rooms for the various groups, which is easier to follow. We also schedule tagup meetings to make sure everyone is on the same page at key points in the planning process. The techniques we are using will continue to evolve as we get more experience with remote operations.

Sol 89 planning went well, with the biggest challenge being how to get the data we need to proceed with SAM and scooping activities later this week. Mars Odyssey is not available this week for data relay, and MRO won't go right over MSL on Sol 89. So we won't get much data from MSL until Sol 90. If all goes well, we will have just enough information to allow us to proceed with the Sol 91 plan.