Sols 2022-24, April 14, 2018, update by MSL scientist Ken Herkenhoff: The Sol 2020 drive completed successfully, placing the vehicle in a good position for contact science on the Waternish conglomerate. To sample the diversity of clasts in Waternish, the Sol 2022 plan includes brushing two spots, a 5-point APXS raster, and lots of MAHLI imaging. But first, ChemCam will shoot its laser at Waternish and the cobble behind it, named “Arrochar.” After the DRT is finished brushing, MAHLI will acquire full suites of images of one of the brushed spots and of Arrochar, as well as a mosaic of images from 5 cm above the APXS raster spots and context images from 25 cm. Then APXS will go to work on Waternish, followed by placement on Arrochar for an overnight integration. This complex set of arm activities took longer than usual to plan, but should provide a rich dataset.
On Sol 2023, Mastcam will take a full multispectral set of images of Waternish and a 3×3 mosaic of both Waternish and Arrochar. ChemCam will observe two more spots on Waternish, and the Right Mastcam will take an image of the ChemCam target selected by AEGIS on Sol 2021. Then the rover will drive backwards to a nearby sandy ripple,