Curiosity update: Optimism for ‘Highfield’

Sol 2223, November 7, 2018, update by MSL scientist Lauren Edgar: On Sol 2222, Curiosity drove ~10 m towards the “Lake Orcadie” location, in the hopes that we would be able to drill the gray Jura member here. Today’s plan is focused on characterizing the target “Highfield,” the bright patch of outcrop shown in the middle of the above Navcam image. I was the SOWG Chair today, and it was a pretty straightforward planning day because most of the activities were pre-planned as part of our standard drill site characterization. First APXS will carry out a short integration on the intended drill target, followed by two MAHLI images. Then we’ll use the DRT to brush the target, followed by… [More at link]