Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Curiosity ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager photo acquired on Sol 2142, August 15, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has just begun Sol 2143 operations.

Work is underway on the recent Stoer drill sample says Ashley Stroupe, a mission operations engineer at NASA/JPL in Pasadena, California, in a recent report.

The main activity is the drop-off of sample to the Chemistry & Mineralogy X-Ray Diffraction/X-Ray Fluorescence Instrument (CheMin), based on the characterization of the drop-off portion size done last weekend.

Curiosity Mastcam Left photo taken on Sol 2141, August 14, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Sample drop-off

Stroupe notes that care was to be taken in CheMin sample drop-off as there’s still a good bit of wind, so the drop-off was to take place around noon on Mars, during the calmest time.

A recent plan had Curiosity’s set to analyze the sample. Results from that action were to reach Earth late yesterday. That data can then inform decisions about dropping off sample material to the robot’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite “as early as this weekend’s plan for analysis early next week,” Stroupe adds.

Dust storm abating

Meanwhile, Curiosity was to continue atmospheric observations to monitor the dust storm “as it continues to abate,” Stroupe points out, with dust devil surveys, and zenith and horizon opacity imaging.

Mars oddity: Curiosity Mastcam Left image taken on Sol 2135, August 8, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Also on tap, collecting additional Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) and Mastcam images of the drill hole, to look for vertical variability, and of the tailings, for change detection.

Movement of object. Photo taken by Curiosity Mastcam Left on Sol 2138, August 11, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Stroupe says that the rover’s ChemCam was also to focus on mapping the bedrock variability by looking at several targets at various distances from the drill hole: “Pitlochry,” “Ben Lui,” and “Caltron Hill.” Mastcam will be taking supporting documentation and additional change detection images on targets “Belhelvie,” “Camas Mor,” and “Sandray.”