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Earth planning date: Monday, June 24, 2024<\/p>\n
This will be an important week for chemistry on our latest drill sample \u201cMammoth Lakes 2.\u201d\u00a0 Curiosity\u2019s primary goal today was a preconditioning of the SAM instrument in preparation for its chemical analysis. Due to the large amounts of power required by SAM, today\u2019s science block was limited to one hour, although it grew a bit at the cost of next sol\u2019s science allocation. Today\u2019s planning only covers one sol (4225), as our usual Wednesday planning day will not have Deep Space Network availability. We will plan 3 sols on Tuesday as a result.<\/p>\n
Over the weekend, the \u201cMammoth Lakes 2\u201d drill sample was dropped off to CheMin for analysis. Mastcam change detection observations of \u201cWalker Pass 2\u201d and \u201cFinch Lake\u201d were begun and will complete on Sol 4225. Remote science on \u201cWhitebark Pass,\u201d \u201cQuarry Peak,\u201d \u201cBroken Finger Peak,\u201d and \u201cShout of Relief Pass\u201d completed successfully.\u00a0 On Sol 4225, the focus for remote science was a ChemCam laser spectroscopic characterization and Mastcam imaging of \u201cHorsetail Falls,\u201d an area near the edge of the \u201cWhitebark Pass\u201d workspace slab. The Navcam image below shows the rough surface of \u201cHorsetail Falls\u201d as a stripe of dark rubbly material near the top just right of center edge of the light colored \u201cWhitebark Pass\u201d slab. \u201cHorsetail Falls\u201d is an example of bedrock texture diversity. This target is named for an iconic 270 ft waterfall emerging from Agnew Lake and easily seen from the June Lake Loop road.\u00a0 \u201cShout of Relief Pass\u201d honors the 11000 ft pass on the Sierra High Route trail which is a gateway to much easier terrain for the next 25 miles of the trail. All targets in this area of Mount Sharp are named after the Bishop geological quadrangle in the High Sierra and Owens Valley of California. ChemCam RMI will also image an 11\u00d71 mosaic of the nearby channel floor where there are interesting color variations.\u00a0 Atmospheric observations in this science block consist of a dust devil survey. \u00a0In the next plan, SAM will complete its initial analysis. Based on the SAM and CheMin results, the team will then decide whether to do more chemistry at this intriguing location or continue our drive up Mount Sharp.<\/p>\n
Written by Deborah Padgett, Curiosity Operations Product Generation Subsystem Lead Engineer at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory<\/p>\n
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Last week, Perseverance arrived at the long-awaited site of Bright Angel, named for being a\u2026<\/p>\n
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Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. It\u2019s dry, rocky, and bitter cold. The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAll Mars Resources<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/circle><\/path><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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