As the SAM team pores over their data from last week’s wet chemistry experiment on the "Mary Anning 3” sample, the rest of the team continued the comprehensive survey of the chemistry and mineralogy of our home since Sol 2829. We will revisit the mellifluously-named “Le Ceasnachadh,” pictured above, to acquire more passive ChemCam spectral data from the gray, bulbous layers that cover the top surface of the target.
This fairly straightforward sol activity-wise also puts us in the best position to have sufficient power for whatever activities the rest of the week holds.
Check out this next:
8K views of Mars on the menu for Martian moon mission spacecraft - CNET
By combining high-def images with the spacecraft's flight data, JAXA and NHK will be able to show the spacecraft's journey in unprecedented detail. Imagine a view of Mars rising behind the craggy lumps of Phobos.
MMX is aiming for a 2024 launch. We'll have to wait a bit to experience the full 8K glory of Mars, but it will be worth it.
WPIAL girls soccer preview: Can anyone rocket past state champ Mars in Class 3A?
Mars’ Ellie Coffield dribbles the ball during the PIAA Class 3A championship game in Hershey last season.
Sol 2884: Waiting... but Not Idling! – NASA's Mars Exploration Program
We are busy beginning our analysis of data from the SAM TMAH experiment ( see blog post 2880-2882 ) - the first of its kind on Mars! However, we are also keeping Curiosity busy. Although contact science using MAHLI and APXS is precluded at this stage in the drill campaign (while samples are in the drill stem), the ChemCam and Mastcam teams are both working diligently on a "bedrock survey" of the workspace.
Beyond this block, targets are a little more heterogenous and show subtle variations in the concentrations of major element geochemistry. As the ChemCam LIBS instrument can analyze targets up to 7 metres from the rover, it is being used very intensively to document trends across the workspace, and Mastcam is taking supporting images of each ChemCam target.
In case you are keeping track:
What it takes to shoot a laser on Mars | Mirage News
“I’ve been fascinated by Mars ever since I was a little kid,” said Lisa Danielson, ChemCam operations manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “I studied physics and astronomy, but I got my advanced degrees in geology because I realized that, to study other planets, I needed to understand rocks. I went to work for NASA and now I’m here, helping to direct the instrument that shoots lasers on Mars, which is a pretty cool job to have.”
In this episode, Danielson is joined by Nina Lanza, another planetary scientist who is also on the ChemCam team.
Perseverance rover: NASA's Mars explorer has an Earth twin
Perseverance's Earthly twin is gearing up to set out to the 'Mars Yard' this month, where it will simulate the mission that Perseverance will engage in over 44 million miles away.
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Perseverance's near-identical twin is a full-scale engineering version of the Mars rover, with six wheels, cameras, and a computer system that allows it to autonomously drive around the simulated Martian landscape.
The down-to-Earth robotic counterpart is dubbed OPTIMISM, which stands for Operational Perseverance Twin for Integration of Mechanisms and Instruments Sent to Mars.
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