Pioneering Mars Exploration: A Look Inside Sol 1954

Today, we are gearing up for two Martian days, or sols, as we prepare for the upcoming holiday weekend. As the SOWG Chair, I had the task of considering various options for the day’s activities, including mobility and contact science tasks with or without brushing. It was a busy and interesting day of planning ahead.

We made the decision early on not to move the rover and to prioritize brushing and investigating a potential drill target located just to the right of the Newmachar brush spot. While we won’t be able to finalize the drill target today, we are confident that this area will be included in our exploration plans on Sol 1966. Before using the drill on Lake Orcadie, ChemCam will analyze its elemental composition at nine points in a 3×3 raster, while MAHLI will capture images from 25 and 5 cm above the surface. This will help us better understand this area and plan our next steps accordingly.

Additionally, ChemCam will target another area called “Forties” with its laser to clean off some of the dust on the surface. We believe that this spot holds great potential for contact science research. Later in the day, MAHLI and APXS will examine this spot once it has been cleaned off by ChemCam’s laser beam. We are excited about this opportunity to conduct more in-depth research on Mars through these innovative tools and techniques.

Overall, today promises to be a productive and exciting day of exploration on Mars as we continue our mission to gather valuable data and insights about this incredible planet.