Sols 4236-4238: One More Time… for Contact Science at Mammoth Lakes

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Sols 4236-4238: One More Time… for Contact Science at Mammoth Lakes


Curiosity will drive away from the Mammoth Lakes drill location on the second sol of this three-sol weekend plan, but before she does, the team will take the opportunity for one last chance at contact science in this interesting region of the Gediz Vallis deposit. The team have noticed distinct troughs surrounding many of the bright-toned, pitted blocks in this area and have been wanting to get closer imaging with MAHLI before driving away. We were unable to do this with powdered Mammoth Lakes still in the drill stem but, having dumped any remaining material in the previous plan, Curiosity is free to use her arm again for contact science, and hence the MAHLI camera. We will take images from about 30 centimeters (about 12 inches) away from the block (“Glacier Notch”) with MAHLI. Unfortunately, “Glacier Notch” was too close to the rover to be able to fit the turret in for APXS to examine the chemistry, so we had to choose a different target: “Lake Ediza” is an example of gray material that rims the Mammoth Lakes drill block.

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