Sol 3756: Sit back and wait for the data to roll in

Sol 3756: Sit back and wait for the data to roll in
by Elena Amador-French
Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 28, 2023
Today we planned a single sol plan. We are in the middle of the Tapo Caparo drill campaign. In yesterday's plan we delivered 2 portions of sample to our CheMin instrument for mineralogy. That analysis will run overnight on Mars which corresponds to the middle of the day Tuesday, on Earth. That meant we did not have any new information to react to this morning for planning.

We still have plenty of science activities to plan but none that involved the Rover Planners, so they were released early to work strategic activities like, for example, what we expect our next eventual drive to look like after this campaign ends. Working activities strategically makes for a more refined plan once we do come in for day-of planning, allowing more time to be spent reacting to new information.

Our geology and environmental theme groups filled this single sol plan with many goodies. We will take a ChemCam LIBS observation of the rock exposed from a fracture that formed during the drilling process, "Moura." This gives a nice perspective on some fresh rock, unobscured by the collection of dust. We'll also use ChemCam's remote micro imager (RMI) capability to take some high-resolution imaging of fine laminations on a nearby block named "Itaquera."

During a drill campaign, we can remain at the same location for several weeks sometimes. This gives instruments like Mastcam the opportunity to take small chunks of a larger mosaic piece by piece over the course of our stay. This saves power on the rover and the complexity of sequencing for our instrument operators. In today's plan, Mastcam will take a 7x7 stereo mosaic as an extension off the target "Tefe."

Our environmental theme group requested a Navcam large dust devil survey and a nighttime APXS atmospheric observation. We take APXS atmospheric measurements once a month. Just like on Earth - atmospheric measurements like these are most powerful when placed into the context of a year (or years) worth of observations, this can tell us how compositional changes vary with respect to seasons, for example.

It has been a short and sweet planning day, looking forward to seeing CheMin's mineralogy results for Tapo Caparo tomorrow morning!

Sol 3755: Got Rock Sample?
by Kenneth Herkenhoff
Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 27, 2023 - The tactical operations team was very happy this morning because it appears that a sample of the Tapo Caparo bedrock was successfully acquired! Although the target rock slab fractured during drilling, all indications are that enough sample was collected to allow analysis by the CheMin and SAM instruments. So the primary goal of the Sol 3755 is to drop some of the drill sample into CheMin for analysis.

But first, several remote science observations are planned. Mastcam will acquire a 2-frame stereo mosaic of the steep, sandy "Rio Unini" surface at the base of Chenapau to look for possible changes since it was imaged on Sol 3748. Mastcam multispectral observations of foreign stones (rocks that appear to have been moved to their present locations from somewhere else) "Tucupita" and "Tamanaco" are also planned, along with a 6x3 stereo mosaic of sedimentary structures in "Chenapau Valley." Then Navcam will search for dust devils and ChemCam will shoot its laser at the wall of the drill hole and measure the spectral reflectance of the Tapo Caparo drill tailings.

The Right Mastcam will document the ChemCam laser spots and take a 6x8 stereo mosaic to extend the coverage of the nearby "Tefe" sedimentary laminations before the arm is used to feed a couple sample portions to CheMin. After taking a nap, the rover will wake up to acquire MARDI and Navcam images during evening twilight, then take another nap before the overnight CheMin analysis begins. Of course, we are all interested to hear what CheMin discovers about the minerals in Tapo Caparo!