Curiosity update: ‘Resuming tactical operations’

Sol 1027-1029, June 26, 2015, update from USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: Mars has passed through solar conjunction, and reliable communication with the spacecraft at Mars is possible again. As planning started this morning, we were still waiting for more data to be relayed by the orbiters to confirm that MSL is ready to resume science planning, but proceeded with tactical planning so that we would be ready when the data arrived.  The Sol 1027 plan starts with Mastcam observations of several targets that were imaged just before solar conjunction, to look for changes caused by winds or maybe Marsquakes. Mastcam will then look at the sun to measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere, Navcam will search for dust devils, and ChemCam/Mastcam will observe nearby targets “Piegan” and “Wallace.”  [More at link]