Curiosity update: ‘Christmas on Mars’

Sol 853-859, December 29, 2014, update from USGS Scientist Lauren Edgar: “On December 19th, the MSL tactical team planned 10 sols (!) on Mars, so that everyone could take a nice break over the holidays.  That means that today we are assessing all of those sols of data, and checking out all of the ‘presents’ that Curiosity acquired for us!   At the start of the break, Curiosity carried out some contact science on the target ‘Santa Ana,’ which is at the base of the Whale Rock outcrop at Pahrump Hills.  Curiosity used the Dust Removal Tool (DRT) to expose a clean surface, and we acquired a nice Mastcam image of that surface….” [More at link]