Exploring the New Terrain – One Measurement at a Time

The parking location presented us with the same pebbly-strewn surface as before, with the occasional small sand feature. With this terrain being new, and some small-scale sedimentary features spotted by the eagle-eyed sedimentologists on the team, we decided to use ChemCam on three pebbly targets, “Dauntless,” “Otter,” and Thistle.” The team also found – for the first time in this new unit – a pebble large enough to get a full APXS raster on one continuous piece of rock. Yes, this is how small the pebbles are! We used the opportunity, named the target “Emerald,” and investigated it using a 3-spot APXS raster, accompanied by MAHLI observations on this target. To put all the small pieces into context, we planned a large Mastcam multispectral raster investigation covering the workspace in front of the rover, and including the targets “Dauntless,” “Faoilean” (a sand patch), and the APXS target “Emerald.” It also covers some of the sedimentary details that were spotted in the post drive imaging. Two further Mastcam observations target aeolian features (target “River Brora”) and a small ridge ahead of the rover, named “Osprey.”