Baseball starts its All Star Break today, but in the grand tradition of the doubleheader, the MSL team decided to plan two sols where only one was scheduled!

In our double-size plan today, we have a stacked lineup of science observations. Leading off, ChemCam and Mastcam go back-to-back with shots to the target "Berbiguieres." Our big bat in the middle of the lineup today is SAM, which turns up the heat for an evolved gas analysis of the recently drilled "Pontours" sample.

Of course we always have to keep an eye on the weather, so we take a break for Navcam to look for dust devils and observe the horizon. Confident that we won't be rained out, we move back up to the top of the lineup. And the hits just keep coming with Mastcam images of target "Lolme" and the "Pontours" drill hole. Then ChemCam and Mastcam get their shots in again, this time on target "Proumeyssac." We round out our All-Star lineup with standard background data collection from DAN, REMS, and RAD.

Late in planning Wednesday the data needed to confirm that it was safe to drop some of the latest drill sample into CheMin were received, so no changes to the Sol 3171-3172 plan were needed. Early this morning, the results of the planned CheMin analysis were received, and the team determined that no further analysis was needed. So the CheMin team decided to dump the sample and clean out the cell in preparation for future mineralogical analyses. SAM decided to analyze the Pontours drill sample, so a SAM preconditioning activity was added to the 3-sol weekend plan. The variety of options for the weekend plan and the need to make tactical decisions this morning made it an interesting day for me as SOWG Chair! Once the path forward was agreed upon and the high-priority CheMin and SAM activities scheduled, the uplink team turned to planning other activities, of which there are many: On Sol 3173, Mastcam will acquire multispectral images of "Chanterac," a potential APXS target, before ChemCam uses its laser to analyze the wall of the Pontours drill hole and acquires spectra of freshly disturbed sand at "Cendrieux." Mastcam will then document the LIBS holes in Pontours and take a 12x2 stereo mosaic of fractured and lineated terrain dubbed "Le Coly." Finally, CheMin will dump the drill sample.

Observations on the next sol begin with Navcam searching for dust devils and measuring dust in the lower part of the atmosphere. Then Mastcam will acquire a 10x1 stereo mosaic of possible alteration features at "Bussac" before ChemCam uses LIBS again, this time on a bedrock block with lots of nodules called "Archignac." ChemCam will also acquire spectra of another nodular target called "Fergeas" and the Right Mastcam will document the LIBS spots on Archignac. The rover will then take a nap before the SAM preconditioning in the evening.

The Sol 3175 plan begins with a Navcam dust devil movie and Mastcam measurements of dust in the atmosphere above the rover. ChemCam will then fire its laser again, this time at "Augignac," another nodular bedrock target, followed by Right Mastcam documentation of the LIBS spots. Later in the afternoon, when lighting of targets east of the rover will be better, the ChemCam RMI will take a 10x1 mosaic of layering in the flank of Mt. Sharp. Mastcam will then acquire a 4x1 stereo mosaic of the layering, and Navcam will survey the sky. Early in the morning of Sol 3176, Navcam will search for clouds and again measure the dust in the lower part of the atmosphere. Finally, Mastcam will also measure dust at various levels in the atmosphere. If all goes well, MSL will be very busy this weekend!

Despite not getting all the expected data down in our decisional pass this morning, we did receive enough information to confirm that we successfully drilled our 32nd hole on Mars, "Pontours." The missing data is expected to come down in the next pass, but at the time of writing this blog we are still some time away from that downlink. Without that information, we are not able to proceed with the planned drop of the drilled sample to CheMin. However, the team decided to plan for success, with the caveat that the downlink data may result in the drop to CheMin not taking place. If we do drop to CheMin, we will analyze the sample to determine the mineralogy. Will we see changes associated with the transition into the basal sulfate-bearing unit?

Regardless of whether we drop to CheMin, the science team was still able to plan a number of scientific observations to help monitor the atmosphere, detect changes in our workspace associated with the drill activities, and continue to characterize the terrain around us. The nodular “Douville” and smoother “Coubjours” rock targets in the workspace will be analyzed by ChemCam LIBS and imaged by Mastcam to look for any changes in chemistry associated with the nodules. We will acquire Mastcam multispectral data on the fresh, "Pontours" drill fines surrounding our new drill hole and a ChemCam RMI image of the drill hole to facilitate future targeting. Curiosity will also take a number of Mastcam and Navcam observations to monitor the atmosphere.

As the APXS strategic planner, I had a relatively quiet day from a planning perspective. We are not able to use the APXS while we have drill sample cached. However, I made good use of the time by starting to plan APXS observations we would like to make before we leave this location. This involves advocating for the observations to the rest of the MSL science team and interfacing with the rover engineers to plan the measurements. We are also eagerly awaiting being able to analyze the drill powder with APXS to compare with the mineralogy determined by CheMin.

After a few sols of preparation, the rover is ready to execute her next drill on Mars! Since drilling and associated characterization activities can eat up a lot of power, the team didn’t anticipate being able to do much else in tosol’s plan. But an unexpected “power gift” (when the rover uses less energy than we had budgeted in the previous plan) allowed us to schedule almost an hour of additional science time – a welcome surprise!

To take advantage of this opportunity, the team scheduled a small set of observations to study the local geology and environment. Two Mastcam mosaics were planned, one covering a small butte and another covering a patch of bedrock with linear nodule features. A ChemCam RMI observation will be used to get a closer look at a distant rock outcrop (shown in the Navcam image above), and a set of Navcam images will be used to characterize ongoing cloud activity. If all goes according to plan, we’ll have a new drill hole on Mars by tomorrow… as well as some bonus science data to boot!

On Sol 3165 Curiosity carried out a short bump to better position the rover for drilling. The bump went well and we were excited to dive straight into planning today. This plan will cover four days on Earth to account for the Independence Day holiday in the U.S., but it also coincides with a “soliday” on Mars – a day without planning to allow Earth and Mars schedules to sync back up. So we still planned a typical three-sol weekend plan. Well-timed, Mars!

The plan starts by taking a 360-degree Mastcam mosaic, which will be helpful for documenting this location, identifying future targets, and looking for changes during the course of the drill campaign. Then ChemCam will investigate the target “Pontours” which we’re evaluating as the drill location (the target is in the middle of the above Navcam image). Next, we’ll brush the “Pontours” target with the DRT and use MAHLI and APXS to characterize its texture and chemistry. On the second sol we’ll conduct a drill pre-load test to make sure that the bedrock and hardware can withstand the force of drilling at this location, along with a lot of MAHLI documentation of the intended drill, dump, and portion locations. SAM will also conduct a cross-calibration activity. The third sol starts with a Navcam sky survey to look at the scattering phase functions of clouds. Later in the morning, Navcam will search for dust devils and Mastcam will monitor the dust content in the atmosphere. Then we’ll acquire a Mastcam multispectral observation of “Pontours” followed by imaging of a nearby sandy trough named “Lolme” which will be used to track movement before and after drilling. Then ChemCam will assess a nodule-rich target named “Dournazac,” to evaluate the chemistry of these diagenetic features. There were a lot of other great science observations that were suggested, but it was a challenge to fit everything in today. Looking forward to seeing the data from this new location and preparing to drill next week!

In the previous plan, Curiosity “bumped” to a nearby location that was identified as a potentially good spot for our next drilling campaign. Unfortunately, even though the bump was successful, we found we wouldn’t be able to drill our desired targets from the current rover position. So to ensure that we can perform the best science possible, Curiosity will make another small bump to reorient herself for the upcoming drilling operations. While this decision delays our drilling plans for another few days, it ensures that the team will get the best possible results from this drilling campaign, which is of the most importance.

Before this second bump, Curiosity will brush off a nearby rock surface named “Colombier," collect chemistry data using the APXS instrument, and image that target using the multispectral capabilities of Mastcam. We will also acquire ChemCam LIBS chemistry data from a target named “Chourgnac," which is located in front of the rover. Chourgnac is a large rock with one side exposed towards the rover, giving the science team a glimpse at the three-dimensional structure of the local bedrock in this area. Following the ChemCam observation, Mastcam will acquire a large mosaic of this block to help us to understand the nature of the subsurface structure, as well as the presence and distribution of nodule and vein features. The environmental team will then acquire several atmospheric observations to round out the plan.

In the next planning cycle, the team hopes to be in a good position to drill the same block that the Colombier target is located on. These drill efforts will begin over the weekend and extend into next week.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and safe Fourth of July holiday in the US!

We are packing it all in on sol 3163: contact science, targeted science, and a short bump to what we hope will be our next drill campaign location (in the direction of the attached image).

We start off with some contact science. Despite having a lot of sand in our workspace, we found one piece of bedrock that we can DRT and measure its composition with APXS. As a Rover Planner today sequencing the arm activities, this target, “Gardonne,” was an interesting one because it didn’t appear in the region we cover with our standard workspace imaging, but instead was in our drive direction mosaics (both Navcam and extended Mastcam). It was also very close to being occluded by the rover’s turret when the images were taken, so we had to ask for some special products to be produced where we could see it in our 3D model of the terrain. This slab with Gardonne is fairly close to our potential drill target, and may give us some preliminary data that is relevant to the drill campaign.

After re-stowing the arm, we have a long targeted science block. We will take Mastcam mutltispectral and ChemCam on the Gardonne target. We also take Mastcam of some nearby terrain features, nearby buttes and hillsides, as well as extensive imaging of our potential drill target.

Then, we are ready to do our short, approximately 10m drive, to park for our drill campaign. The drive is a little tricky because there are several medium sized and sharp rocks that we want to avoid to prevent extra wear on the wheels. We expect our parking location to be relatively flat and at a good heading for communicating with Earth during the campaign.

On the second sol of the plan, we do a lot of our standard environment/atmospheric observations to characterize dust in the atmosphere, including Navcam dust devil survey, suprahorizon movie and a line-of-site image to the north; also we take a Mastcam basic tau. Finally, we use AEGIS to autonomously choose a science target in some Navcam images and then observe it with ChemCam LIBS. Later in the afternoon, we take another Mastcam tau and a Navcam movie to look for clouds.

Today’s workspace sports a lot of sand, which of course will be a target for our investigations. But it also has interesting looking rocks, which seem very rubbly and structured. The image above shows the area the team was looking at very closely and that has all of today’s targets.

But before I get to the details, allow me to look at a little history. Sol 3160, what an achievement, and only one other rover has ever lived that many sols on Mars. Do you remember, which one? – Of course, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity! Sol 3160 on her mission fell into December 2012 here on Earth, and she explored the rim of Endeavour crater; you can find out all about the investigation here. Remember, that in December of 2012, Curiosity had just landed and was three digit sol-numbers (just over 130!) back then, and had not even investigated Yellowknife Bay or done our first drill. We had seen our first conglomerates, though, right at the start, when sol number still had two digits only. Remember that? Here it is, if you love looking back in the family album of Martian rocks as much as I do.

Now, back to tosol’s activities! Curiosity has a busy weekend plan ahead. With so many interesting rocks, APXS and MAHLI are looking at two of them, the targets “Simeyrols” and “Rouffignac,” respectively. ChemCam has two LIBS active observation on targets “Pressignac” and “La Lizonne,” which are on rubbly looking rocks. Potential differences in mineralogy in those rocks are in focus of the ChemCam passive observation at “Rouffignac.” ChemCam also looks into the distance, at Rafael Navarro Mountain to study the details of the sedimentology there. Mastcam supports the observations at Rafael Navarro Mountain and surrounding area with a large mosaic, but it is also takes an image of the laser targets, and does multispectral observations at “La Lizonne,” and “Simeyrols.”

I said, ‘a lot of science,’ didn’t I? After the drive, Curiosity will make several routine observations of the clouds and dust in the atmosphere. Since it's nominally the cloudy season on Mars, cloud measurements happen more often at the moment, and tosol they include a 'Cloud Altitude Observation' where Curiosity takes a movie at zenith to watch any clouds drift by, and also look at the slopes of Mt Sharp to see if their shadows move over the slopes of the mountain. — Having both allows the team back on Earth to compute the altitude at which clouds have formed, as well as the wind direction and speed at that altitude. And on top of all that, there also is a ChemCam measurement of the atmosphere, timed to coincide with a measurement by an instrument on the European ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, which will be passing overhead.

The sol 3156 drive went well, leaving the rover on bedrock with lots of dark nodules. So many nodules, in fact, that the smooth bedrock patches between nodules are too small to allow DRT brushing. By removing the brushing activities from the Sol 3158 plan, enough time was freed up to allow APXS integrations on two adjacent nodules named "Bosset." To complement these APXS measurements of the chemical composition of the nodules, ChemCam will fire its laser at a nodule-free patch of bedrock dubbed "Barouffieres." Mastcam will also acquire multispectral images of Bosset, a single image of Barouffieres, stereo observations of vertical exposures of bedrock at "Bassillac" and "Douzillac," and stereo mosaics to examine nearby changes in nodule abundance in the bedrock. Both the ChemCam RMI and Mastcam will image sedimentary structures in Rafael Navarro Mountain, seen near the top of the Front Hazcam image above. Then the rover will drive again toward the southwest and take Hazcam, Navcam, Mastcam and MARDI images from its new location.

On Sol 3159, the Navcams and Hazcams will be used to search for dust devils and clouds, and Mastcam will survey the rover deck and the ground in front of the vehicle. Later in the afternoon, Navcam will survey the sky and the horizon, again searching for clouds and measuring the brightness of the sky. Finally, the rover will take a well-earned nap in preparation for more fun on Sol 3160.

Curiosity had another nice ~51 m drive over the weekend, making good progress towards the next intended drill location and taking in the view along the way. It’s a good reminder to check the rearview mirror (or the view over the back right side of the rover, as seen in the above Navcam image) to remind ourselves just how far we’ve come.

Today’s two-sol plan follows a familiar pattern, with APXS observations on a brushed rock target to monitor the chemistry along the traverse, followed by remote sensing and another ~50 m drive. The plan starts with several Mastcam observations to document some interesting polygonal fractures, a vertical rock face named “Audrix” to assess stratification and vein geometry, and bedding exposed at Rafael Navarro mountain, a nearby peak named in honor of a former team member. Then Curiosity will use the DRT to brush the rock target “Ribagnac,” followed by two short APXS integrations to assess its chemistry. Afterwards, Mastcam will assess the same target using all of the camera filters. Following the Mastcam observation, ChemCam will assess the bedrock target “Hautefort.” Then Curiosity will continue her trek to the southwest, taking post-drive imaging to prepare for a similar plan on Wednesday. The second sol is devoted to environmental monitoring, including a Navcam search for dust devils, and Navcam and Mastcam observations of the dust content in the atmosphere. The plan also includes a photometry experiment to better understand the light-scattering behavior of these rocks. I hope Curiosity is enjoying her road trip – we’re all looking forward to the next pit stop for drilling!