Pre Downlink Meeting

Sol 22 was a panorama sol with MiniTES and IPS observations in the Camelback area to continue assessment of the stratigraphy originally seen in the Kaibab and Stony Point areas. The Camelback outcrop was poorly illuminated on Sol 22, so similar rock exposures to the right of Camelback were targeted for IPS and MiniTES measurements. Atmospheric observations and a soil photometry sequence were also planned. Additional navcam and pancam data were planned to search for possible rock targets to approach with the rover.

On Sol 21, a science contingency sequence was automatically executed by the rover because the planned set of observations completed before the available rover operations time was used. The contingency consisted of a single tier pancam mosaic of the near field around the rover. These data were returned on the Sol 22 UHF downlink.

A high priority objective for the remaining mission is to reach a suitable rock for in-situ measurements. The decreasing time for rover operations is a major issue in planning. Thus, there are basically the equivalent of 2 sols of operations remaining in the mission. Also, there is a low rate DTE link coming up on Sol 24. An additional constraint announced at the beginning of Sol 23 is a reduction in power resources. The impact is that in order to maintain the MiniTES at an operating temperature, the available time for UHF downlinks would be reduced by one half. If the MiniTES is turned off for the remainder of the mission, then the UHF availability can be maintained.

Resource Predictions: 679 Whrs, 70 m DSN coverage, 11.06 Mbits DTE, 49.1 Mbits UHF, 60 minutes rover operations time with 5 Mbits still stored in UHF buffer. Note that Sol 24 will be a low rate DTE sol. If the MiniTES is maintained for operations on Sol 24, then the available UHF is reduced to 24.55 Mbits.

Mission Success at start of Sol 23: The rover has traversed 198.4 meters of the 200 meters needed for mission success. The mission has achieved the pancam panorama , 3 locations, and 1 trench criteria. Note that 2 trenches have been dug.

Science Assessment Meeting

The one mission success criteria that still needs to be achieved is to drive an additional 1.6 meters. Thus, completing this mission criterion is of high priority given the diminishing power and operations time resources. Three options for a drive were presented at the Science Assessment Meeting: 1) a short drive (5-6 meters) to a dark rock, named black lab, which is about 10 cm in size; 2) a drive of about 15 meters into what appears to be a channel for a target of opportunity sequence on channel material; and 3) a drive toward Camelback.

Engineering reported that all commands from Sol 22 executed successfully, the rover was in good health, and the rover operated for 75 minutes (the prediction was 70 minutes). All MiniTES and IPS expected on the DTE were received.

SOWG Meeting and Sequence Summary

It was agreed that Sol 23 would be a drive to the dark rock target, named black lab. It was also agreed that the MiniTES should be maintained for possible measurements on Sol 24. The rationale is that the instrument should be available for a measurement on black lab once the rover approaches the rock and thus fills the field of view of the MiniTes. This strategy would also make the MiniTES available in case the Sol 23 observations are lost. The impact of this decision is that the UHF downlink will only be about 24.55 Mbits, with 5 Mbits still in the buffer. The uplinked sequence planned given these constraints included:

• All MiniTES observations were planned to study the stratigraphy and composition of Camelback. The sequence consisted of a vertical profile with 5 measurements on Camelback and one sky measurement in the direction of Camelback.
• The requested pre-drive remote sensing observations included IPS observations of the Camelback feature. A vertical profile of 7 observations covering the same area as the MiniTES observations and a horizontal profile across the base of Camelback centered on the feature Priscilla were planned. Additionally, a single IPS measurement of the black lab target was acquired.
• There was concern in planning the drive that the rover could overshoot the black lab target. Thus, the planned drive was to move to a point that is one meter from the target. There is a chance that the target will not be in the work area of the IDD after the drive, which may require another move on Sol 24. Navcam and hazcam images will be acquired after the drive for planning the next sol.
• After the drive, a pancam image the calibration target was requested to establish the rover orientation.

A requested navcam/pancam sky survey sequence had to be deleted in order to have enough resources to accomplish the drive.

Back to top