Elaina McCartney, SOWG Documentarian
John Grant, SOWG Chair

August 19, 2002

Pre-downlink:

Resources predicted: 672 WHr, 10.91 Mb DTE (including 2 Mb engineering data), 49.1 Mb UHF is allocated, but will be reduced to 24.55 Mb if Mini-TES use is planned for Sol 26, 40 minutes FIDO time, 70m coverage. There is no data left in the buffer.

Mission Success was achieved on Sol 23, and has been exceeded (fourth location today, 202.1 meters traversed). Another success criterion is to have the full payload available for the full 20 sols. Test Director has ruled that it is not necessary to keep Mini-TES alive at this point of the mission to meet mission success. The rationale is that turning it off may enhance the science produced by the rest of the payload near the end of the mission when resources are constrained. (Note that leaving the survival heat on for Mini-TES necessitates cutting the UHF allocation in half.)

Uplink review:

•  Sol 24 was a low DTE sol. The uplinked sequence included a suite Mini-TES and IPS observations, a Pancam mosaic of nearby channel soil, IDD deployment on a small rock target of opportunity near Black Lab for CMI, APXS and Moessbauer placement, and a short approach of approximately 36 cm toward the dark rock feature Black Lab, followed by a two-tier Navcam to facilitate instrument pointing the following sol (coming down UHF). The Hazcam pair following the APXS deployment and the Hazcam pair following the short approach to Black Lab were requested DTE. The quantity of engineering data on DTE was reduced to accommodate these critical Hazcams.
•  Time is constrained (there are only 70 minutes left to be planned for the rest of the mission), so mast use should be planned efficiently (Note that the stow and deploy of the FIDO mast is not a MER consideration).
•  Test director has ruled that there can be mast activity while the arm is deployed and stationary. The arm may be left out overnight, but the mast must be stowed overnight.
•  Test Director has ruled that on sol 26, there will be no overnight science.
•  There is an option of two IDD deployments (one on rock, one on soil), and the possibility of RATting the dark rock feature Black Lab is also being considered (note that the FIDO RAT time allocation is 10 minutes). Black Lab is marginally rattable. The diameter of the RAT is 4.5 cm, and rock is approximately 10 cm. across. Its stability in the soil is not known. If there is a fault while RATting, the contingency is front Hazcam and Navcam wedge in front. If there is a timeout and stow, we may want to leave enough space in the DTE to allow that timeout Hazcam to be downlinked. Other considerations are placing the RAT at the end of the sol, after other instrument placements, and being able to point Mini-TES on the post-RATted surface. If we time out and stow, may want to leave enough space in DTE to allow that timeout Hazcam to be downlinked, should it be acquired.

Assignments:

•  Look at RATting possibilities.
•  Groups should determine what other kinds of remote sensing should be done today (short and prioritized).
•  Atmospheres should consider what is critical to acquire by end of mission, and what will fit within other priorities on this sol.

Science Assessment Meeting

Rover state of health: All commands executed successfully, taking 54 minutes (out of 50 minute allocation). A DTE data allocation was loaned to science, so engineering data was sampled at lower rate. A few of the channels were turned off. There is no sun sensor rover heading (as has been the case for several sols) and some temperature data will not be included in the downlink. Rover heading appears to be the same offset as calculated on previous sols by the science groups. The engineering values not being downlinked have been stable for many sols, so this lack of data is not believed to have an impact on planning.

Tactical Downlink Assessment:

•  Geology: The strategy for approaching Black Lab was successful (from a mechanical standpoint), and we have pre- and post-move Hazcam images, and six Mini-TES spectra in near field (the IPS data are low signal and not usable). The dark rock target looks like pure quartz with a varnish coating, different from Woodstock and other dark rocks closer to the lander, which may have been basalt with igneous history. There is concern about the instrument health of the IPS, although the quality of the data may also be a consequence of time of day of acquisition. A low priority request would be IPS on Camelback in the area of newly requested Pancam. Pre- and post-RAT spectroscopy is desired.
•  Soils: Black Lab and nearby soils are both in range of the IDD. Placement on soil in this drainage area would provide data to compare with soils in Bonneville area. Note that Mini-TES data imply that there is not much different between soils in the two areas.
•  Atmospheres: No new data were acquired, although some sky was visible in one of the Hazcam images.
•  Long Term Planning led a discussion to assess science at this stage in the mission and what we want to accomplish. In principle, Black Lab is RATtable. This sol and the next sol should be IDD work, doing spectroscopy with the arm. We can use previously acquired Navcams to set up a sequence to fill in Pancam along the Camelback feature and off to the left, which is a remote-sensing priority for characterizing this feature. Navcam acquired on Sol 24, to be received on UHF during the IST meeting, may be used to tweak the heading of the Pancam sequence. Note that the Test Director has approved using this UHF data for remote sensing, but may not have approved its use for mobility. We are Pancam down Camelback and off to left, and that's a remote-sensing priority to characterize the feature's stratigraphy
•  IDD options include:
  • Spectroscopy on Black Lab before and after RATting.
  • Spectroscopy on Black Lab before and after RATting, and on nearby soil.
  • Remote sensing (Mini-TES) on black rocks in the near field to determine differences (e.g. quartz or quartzite, feldspar and kaolinite). The coating is what is interesting in the quartz rocks (but Mini-TES sees through the coating).
•  RAT considerations:
  • If we RAT, it will be this sol.
  • Could RAT at the end of day, leave the arm out, continue IDD work on the next sol.
  • Black Lab is a very small rock, likely to move when it's RATted and could subsequently be unreachable.
  • Need post-RATted Hazcam before we can deploy. Fault contingency is Hazcam and a Navcam wedge,
  • runout contingency includes an arm stow.
  • Rat rules for this test are MER-like, including rock size, preloading, ability to deploy butterfly. There is a risk of faulting out on placement as well as on operation.

SOWG Meeting

No changes in Rover state of health:

Tactical Operations Summary:

•  Mineralogy's highest priority is MiniTES on Black Lab target, before and after ratting (mast can stay up). Other priorities are Mini-TES on Min7, Min8, Min6 and Min5.
•  IDD priorities are Black Lab before RATting, RAT the rock, spectroscopy on the RATted rock, spectroscopy on the soil. Because of time constraints, the sequence can be split between two sols, leaving the arm deployed on soil overnight.
•  Need to find soil target far enough to the left so that it won't obscure Black Lab in a Hazcam image.
•  Have 16-20 minutes left for mast work.
•  Atmospheric group would like one Pancam near the sun before the end of the mission.
•  Geology requests Pancam (1) across other side of Long Canyon (middle highest, right), (2) Camelback top, middle bottom (1x3) (to be nudged after new Navcam arrives on UHF). then left of Long Canyon.
•  Possibly time for additional Pancam in Camelback area (making it 3x2). Left is lowest priority.
•  IPS observations have not been planned because of time constraints and question of instrument health.
•  IPS calibrations are requested on dolomite and halon cal targets to check instrument health. (Sun sensor not getting good data either; one possibility is clouds).

Science Observation Plan:

Plan is to deploy the arm on Prieta (target on feature Black Lab), CMI step down, APXS short integration, front Hazcam, Moessbauer short integration, Front Hazcam, place RAT, RAT Prieta, front Hazcam, move arm to left onto soil target of opportunity, stow mast. Mini-TES would have to be next sol, because mast needs to be stowed in case of fault. Soil target is Armsoil1. If time runs out, postpone the soil CMI until tomorrow. The highest priority Hazcam is the one on Black Lab after the arm has moved to the soil target.

Engineering update: Plan to re-enable telemetry channels turned off yestersol, and reestablish the nominal sampling rate. We will reinstate the usual practice of taking Hazcams after each placement. Need the standard 2 Mbits. CMI is less important than Pancam (change CMI from 10 to 7).

Tactical Uplink Summary:

Did not get atmospheric Pancam requests. Cut left edge of Pancam which included atmosphere. Did not do IPS calibrations. Kept Mini-TES alive (reduced UHF allocation).

Sequence included: Mast deploy, 5 Mini-TES spectra (DTE), Pancam looking across Long Canyon except for left piece and Pancam of Camelback (UHF). Stow mast, do IDD work on Prieta target on Black Lab feature, CMI (7-step) requested on UHF, Hazcam, APXS, Hazcam, Moessbauer (no Hazcam), move RAT to Prieta, Hazcam to confirm placement of RAT (DTE), move left to soil target Armsoil-1, CMI placement (4 step), front Hazcam for placement, APXS and MB overnight on soil (one final DTE Hazcam confirming APXS placement).

PI note on science: Missed the opportunity to do overnight APXS and determine carbon in the varnish. Ended up doing RAT on a quartzite, keeping Mini-TES was a good choice because of possible future opportunities to look at dark rocks with igneous history. Need raised for presence of Mission Manager when critical decisions are made (arrive earlier). Need raised for a "science shadow" for the SOWG chair in the IST (e.g. Mission Planner or someone who knows CPR), but also there is a consideration of having too many people in the room.

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