This 3-sol plan was a typical weekend plan, with opportunities for contact science, remote sensing, and a drive. Although our workspace mostly consisted of loose sand, the team was able to plan MAHLI and APXS on some of the broken blocks right in front of the rover to investigate the grain size and composition of the local bedrock.
We also planned a lot of remote sensing observations to assess sedimentary structures and chemistry. In addition, the plan includes environmental monitoring observations to assess atmospheric opacity search for dust devils and clouds, as well as an overnight APXS atmospheric observation. Then we'll drive to a good location to get an even better view, and hopefully have some bedrock in our workspace to study next week.
I was on duty as LTP today, and the team held a science discussion to think about observation strategies as we traverse across the pediment. It's exciting to think about everything that we might learn on the road ahead of us!
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