Curiosity update: Curiosity’s potassium ‘Special K’ campaign

Sol 2414, May 21, 2019, update by MSL engineer Ashley Stroupe: Curiosity is investigating an area that is very high in potassium, and we’re trying to characterize the distribution and the source of that potassium. Yesterday we did a short drive to get one of these potassium-rich rocks into our workspace – “Grampian Mountains.” While this target isn’t viable for drilling, it is a good example of this potassium-rich area, which is now in our workspace (See image). We’ll be starting out with some contact science (APXS and MAHLI) on the target. After the arm activities, there is a long targeted science block with ChemCam and Mastcam of several targets, including Grampian Mountains. “Annbank” and (to a lesser extent) “Brimmond” have similarities to the Woodland Bay block that was examined on sol 2359 (and which might be another possible drill target), so we’re examining them to make a comparison. Our fourth target is “Balintore,” which is part of our systematic bedrock survey; we’re looking for more potassium-rich bedrock… [More at link]