Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image taken by Curiosity’s Mastcam Left on August 13, 2015, Sol 1073.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

At week’s end the NASA Curiosity Mars rover was driven on sol 1074, putting itself in good position for weekend science – slated to involve the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument. It will analyze some of the recent drill sample that the robot has collected.

“SAM activities will take up all of sol 1075. On sol 1076, we will use MAHLI [the Mars Hand Lens Imager] to check on the health of our wheels, and SAM will do its Evolved Gas Analysis (EGA) measurement on the sample,” reports Ryan Anderson of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Another image taken by Curiosity Mastcam Left on Sol 1073, August 13, 2015.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

If things remain on schedule, on sol 1077, Curiosity will use its ChemCam and Mastcam.

Mastcam has a 20×2 mosaic of an area called “Fournier”, followed by ChemCam observations of the targets “Butler”, “Evaro”, “Coldwater”, and “Alberton” and associated Mastcam documentation images. Navcam also has an atmosphere monitoring observation of the horizon to the north, Anderson adds.

Curiosity Mastcam Right image taken on August 12, 2015, Sol 1072.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

“Later in the afternoon on sol 1077, ChemCam has a calibration observation and Mastcam has another observation of ‘Alberton’ to try to see textures highlighted by the lower sun angle. Navcam also has a couple more observations, watching for clouds and dust devils,” Anderson notes.

As always, dates of planned rover activities are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and overall rover status.