Navigating Mars Rover: Sol 1352 and Planned Activities on Sol 1353

On Sol 1352, the post-drive imaging revealed sandy ripples in front of the rover, but there were also enough rocky patches for a successful drive towards the southwest. This news is encouraging as we had planned to head that direction on Sol 1353. Prior to the drive, Mastcam will take stereo mosaics of the Murray-Stimson contact and a few areas with nodular features. ChemCam will autonomously analyze the chemistry of a target chosen by AEGIS software after the drive.

In preparation for Memorial Day weekend, two sols have been scheduled for today to give us an early start. We are waiting for data from Sol 1352 tomorrow morning before continuing with our weekend activities. Since precise targeting of activities on Sol 1353 is not possible, Navcam will search for clouds and Mastcam will measure dust levels in the atmosphere at various times that sol. Additionally, ChemCam will perform a routine calibration activity.

As MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead, my day was relatively straightforward, with just planning an MARDI twilight image required. The dates of planned rover activities mentioned in these reports are subject to change due to factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays, and rover status.