Curiosity update: ‘MAHLI mosaic’

Sols 946-947, April 3, 2015, update from USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: The MAHLI operations team did a lot of good work preparing for Sol 946, so I expected that it would be an easy day for me as uplink lead.  Unfortunately, a problem on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) prevented some of the data we expected to receive in time for planning from being relayed to Earth.  MRO has been very reliable in the past and we have gotten used to receiving most of the MSL data through MRO.  Fortunately, the orbiter is recovering quickly and should be back to normal operations this weekend.  But without some key MSL data this morning, it was more difficult than usual to plan arm activities.  Despite valiant efforts by the Rover Planners and APXS team, a safe target for APXS placement could not be found.  The focus of the weekend plan is the outcrop at the center of this image [above]. [More at link]