Curiosity update: Full drill

Sol 1495, October 19, 2016, update by USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: The thumbnail of the Sol 1494 MAHLI image showed that the Quela dump pile had been moved by the wind again!  The MAHLI team is concerned that windblown sand and dust might damage or contaminate the camera’s optics, so they decided to open the MAHLI dust cover only for images taken from 25 cm or more above the surface.  Otherwise there are no concerns and a full drill hole is planned at Sebina on Sol 1495, with close-up MAHLI images taken through the dust cover window.  As usual, the other MSL cameras will take images of… [More at link]