Sols 2455-56, July 2, 2019, update by MSL scientist Susanne Schwenzer: The 4th of July is coming up – and so the team worked to keep the rover busy without keeping ourselves busy! Today Earth time we planned two Mars sols, and tomorrow Earth time we will complete an over-sized weekend plan that will keep Curiosity busy while we celebrate 4th of July on Earth. Parts of the plan are dedicated to engineering activities and preparation for the next CheMin measurement. For the former, the most important part is a full MAHLI wheel imaging, which we do in regular intervals to monitor the health of our wheels. The latter is a CheMin empty cell analysis, so we know that we have a clean cell prepared and ready for the next drill activity. While the next drill location is not decided yet, we still use the time available during longer planning intervals to do those activities.
But there was remote science, too. We planned two ChemCam LIBS targets, one on the target “Culross” and the other one on the target “Corston.” They are different in their textures and it is important to document if they are also different in their chemistry – if they are, we will find out when we come back… [More at link]