Sol 1127: Full MAHLI wheel imaging and bump

7 October 2015

Planning is no longer restricted, but to ensure that Sol 1127 commands are ready to be sent to the rover on time, we had to start planning 1.5 hours earlier than usual this morning.  The Sol 1126 images show that the APXS was well centered over the pre-sieve dump pile, so we are ready to move on.  It's time for a full set of MAHLI wheel images, which dominate the Sol 1127 plan.  After the wheel imaging, there's just enough time for a short drive to another potential drill target and post-drive imaging.  The volume of data expected to be received in time for planning tomorrow is smaller than usual, so we had to carefully consider data priorities.  With luck, we'll receive enough of the post-drive images to select targets for remote sensing tomorrow morning.  Planning will start at 6:30 PDT again tomorrow, so many of us will be getting up before dawn, but it's well worth it to keep the rover going!

by Ken Herkenhoff

Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.