Written by Conor Hayes, a graduate student at York University
Earth planning date: Monday July 28, 2025
Today was a fairly simple planning day. Our journey during the weekend ended successfully and we quickly confirmed that we are parked in a stable position. Thus, we were able to take off the rover’s arm to search our new workspace, which has a large sand fracture. Aside from all the good geology work to be done, the view of our current location is quite spectacular.
We are still at the time of the year when the gale atmosphere is reasonably dustless (at least, compared to later in the year), which allows us to look to the edge of the Gale and Beyond Crater. The upper slopes of Mount Sharp also reappeared east after spending months hiding behind the walls of Gediz Vallis. There is a little more sand and dust in this place than we have seen recently, we can also see the path left by the wheels of the rover while we head for this place (see the image above).
We are always deep in our examination of the boxwork structures that we are going through now, so most of the attention of curiosity in this plan is concentrated much closer to the rover than any picturesque Vista around us. Apxs, DRT and Mahli will all take a look at “Cañón de Palca”, a rocky substratum near the great fracture of this workspace. MASTCAM and Chemcam will imagine certain boxwork crests in “Caine” and will also collaborate with the AEGIS Post-Drive target imagery of the weekend and a target of the “Doña Ines” Libs. Mastcam solo activities include a glance at a superposition of “Paniri Butte” and Mahli to examine a grain of dust that could have come across the lens.
We will move away from this place along one of the boxwork edges, which, about 5 meters (about 16 feet) wide, is more than enough to adapt to our rover the size of a car. Driving activities are largely focused on environmental surveillance, including surveys of the Navcam and dust in view line to watch dust, and several Cloud Navcam films. As usual, Chemcam will also join the pleasure after driving with an observation of Egis. More environmental surveillance by REMS, RAD and DAN fill the rest of this plan.
