Curiosity update: ‘Albert, Bigfork, & Charity’

Sol 973-975, May 1, 2015, update from USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: MSL is in a good position for contact science observations on an interesting outcrop of sedimentary rock, so the rover will be busy this weekend!  We had to change the timing of the arm activities a bit to optimize the illumination of MAHLI targets, so it was a busy morning for me as SOWG Chair but I’m happy with the way the plan turned out.  On Sol 973, ChemCam and Mastcam will observe nearby targets “Albert” and “Charity,” the RMI will image a distant target named “Empire,” and Navcam will search for clouds and dust devils.  Overnight, CheMin will dump the remaining drill sample from one of its cells and measure the cell to confirm that the dump was successful. [More at link]