Exciting Sol Planning for Contact Science and Drill Target Selection on Mars Rover – The Case of Lake Orcadie”.

Today, we have planned two sols to kick off the holiday weekend planning. As the SOWG Chair, I had to weigh several options for activities, including mobility and contact science with or without brushing. This made for an exciting day as we finalized our plans.

Our first decision was not to move the rover, with our top priority being to brush and investigate a potential drill target just to the right of the Newmachar brush spot. Although we won’t be finalizing the drill target today, the area to be brushed on Sol 1966, known as “Lake Orcadie,” is likely to include the drill target.

Before using the DRT on Lake Orcadie, ChemCam will measure its elemental composition at 9 points in a 3×3 raster, and MAHLI will take images from 25 and 5 cm above the surface. Additionally, ChemCam will shoot its laser at another contact science target named “Forties” to clean some of the dust off the surface before MAHLI and APXS examine it later in the day.

MAHLI will also acquire a full suite of images of the brushed spot before APXS is placed on it for an overnight integration. Today’s activities are varied and require careful planning to ensure that we collect all the necessary data for our investigations.