Sols 2429-30, June 6, 2019, update by MSL scientist Brittney Cooper: The original plan for Sol 2429 involved a “touch-and-go” where the rover would have engaged in contact science (that’s the “touch” portion) followed by a drive (the “go” portion), but through discussion the instrument leads determined tactically that they were satisfied with the contact science already acquired at this location. Thus, we planned a “no-touch-and-go,” and were able to take the time planned for contact science and use it to extend the length of a remote sensing science block before the drive.
This science block contains two Mastcam multi-filter observations, a 10×1 ChemCam raster on target “Awe,” a 5×1 raster on target “Castle Rock,” and a Mastcam stereo mosaic to capture nearby gravel. Curiosity will then drive an hour and twenty minutes, and wrap up the sol with some post-drive imaging of the new workspace, a Mastcam tau to measure atmospheric opacity, and a post-drive DAN active. For those not familiar, a post-drive DAN active consists of the DAN instrument shooting neutrons into the ground and measuring the energy of the reflected neutrons to detect hydrogen just below the surface. A DAN active occurs after every drive so that the DAN team can acquire these measurements at every… [More at link]