Curiosity update: Power limited

Sol 1429-31, August 12, 2016, update by USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: MSL drove over 45 meters on Sol 1428, closer to the Murray Buttes.  I helped select ChemCam targets again this morning, and was glad to see that some of them made it into the weekend plan.  The primary constraint on planning today ended up being power–we tried to fit more into the plan than the rover’s batteries could support!  But we were still able to include a lot of good activities into the plan, starting with a dust devil search, dust opacity measurements, and Mastcam stereo mosaics of the Murray Buttes on Sol 1429.  ChemCam will acquire LIBS data on bedrock targets “Matala,” “Cazombo,” and “Ondjiva” before the Right Mastcam takes a 7×3 mosaic that includes the ChemCam targets. [More at link]