Red Planet Report

Sol 1645, March 22, 2017, update by atmospheric scientist Michael Battalio and USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: The APXS will still be deployed on The Hop early on Sol 1645, and to avoid using battery power to heat up the arm, we’ll wait until early afternoon to move it out of the way.  So we had to pick ChemCam and Right Mastcam targets that would not be obscured by the arm:  A bright vein named “Snows Point” and a knobby-looking rock dubbed “Clam Ledge.”  Navcam will then search for clouds and dust devils before the APXS is retracted from The Hop and more drill diagnostic tests performed.  The Navcam surveys are part of an ongoing Environmental Science Theme Group (ENV) campaign to meticulously search for dust devil activity in Gale Crater.  It is important to maintain a regular cadence, because as the location of the rover and thus surface… [More at link]