It was a pretty standard Monday plan for our intrepid rover, with the science team electing to utilize the rover’s contact science instruments before a drive in the first sol of a two-sol plan. Activities focused primarily on the “Pine Creek” target, located roughly in the center of the prominent bedrock block just above the aptly designed QR code on Curiosity’s arm. Post-brush compositional analyses by APXS and ChemCam were complemented by images acquired by MAHLI and Mastcam. Prior to a ~30 m dogleg drive, Mastcam also acquired images of “Fairview Dome,” “Pika Lake,” “Whitebark Pass,” and “Wilkerson Butte.” A lengthy DAN passive activity also featured prominently on the first sol. The second sol of the plan included ChemCam AEGIS, a Navcam suprahorizon movie, and SAM cleaning activity following up its atmospheric analysis over the weekend.
