Sol 2245-2246 : À la chasse aux choses brillantes !

Of course, the main activity is to look at the Highfield dump pile with all instruments available. APXS will get the chemistry, and Navcam, Mastcam and MAHLI will have a close look. In addition, a Mastcam multispectral and a ChemCam passive observation will add to the information collected from the dump pile.
Not only the arm, but also ChemCam is very busy these two sols, as in addition to the dump pile activities, it will look at four samples, two of which are re-targeted. One of the samples that we try to get a better look at is “Little Colonsay.” The planning team thinks it might be a meteorite because it is so shiny. But looks can deceive, and proof will only come from the chemistry. Unfortunately, the small target was missed in the previous attempt, and with the information from that, Curiosity will try again. Another very small target is the target “Flanders Moss,” which shows an interesting, dark coloured coating, for which chemistry is required to confirm its nature. Two additional targets, “Forres” and “Eildon,” are to add to the database of the grey Jura bedrock before we leave the Highfield site next week.