Curiosity update: Drill no go — time for Plan B

Sols 2416-18, May 24, 2019, update by MSL scientist Catherine O’Connell-Cooper: At the start of today’s planning, the Geology theme group (GEO) had a major decision to make, whether to drill here at “Broad Cairn” or not. Unfortunately, APXS data indicated that this rock lies just outside of our desired compositional parameters, with lower potassium (K) than we would have liked. This made for a hectic start to planning as we discussed the implications of these results and decided not to drill after all, moving instead to Plan B. We will use this three-sol plan to finish investigating the chemical variability here and then begin the drive back to start a reinvestigation of an earlier target from sol 2359, “Woodland Bay,” around 130 metres away. This is a very interesting laminated rock, with alternating thinner and thicker layers, and it is possible that one of these layers is the source of the pebbles we see strewn about Glen Torridon. [More at link]