Exploring Mars’ Stunning Landscape on Sol 1089: A Behind the Scenes Look at NASA’s Latest Mars Rover Mission

On Sol 1089, one of the main activities on Mars will be dropping off part of the Buckskin drill sample to SAM. We will also dump the Buckskin post-sieve sample and analyze it with APXS. Additionally, Mastcam and MAHLI imaging will be conducted to document the dump pile. This weekend, we have planned 2 sols of activities on Mars. Sunday will be a “soliday” to allow Earth and Mars schedules to sync back up.

Sol 1090 will consist of several ChemCam observations of the targets “Fox Hills,” “OBriens Creek,” and “Bearpaw” to investigate the bedrock and local alteration features. A large Mastcam mosaic will be acquired to document the stratigraphy, and a Navcam deck pan will be conducted for dust monitoring. The region we are exploring has some particularly stunning views, so I am looking forward to seeing the new mosaics that will be created.