Curiosity update: No touch, just go

Sol 1448-49, August 31, 2016, update by USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: MSL roved 53 meters on Sol 1446, and ended up in an area with nice exposures of bedrock.  We were interested in taking MAHLI close-up images of the bedrock but were concerned that they would not be very useful if the surface as dusty as it typically is.  We therefore considered using the ChemCam laser to clean off some of the dust and get chemical information before deploying the arm, but recognized… [More at link]