2 January 2013 After the holiday hiatus, the MSL operations team sprang back into action to plan Sol 147 activities. The rover has been waiting patiently for more exciting duties, and she will be rewarded with commands to drive toward a sinuous outcrop named “Snake River.” The science team studied the data acquired and returned over the holidays and decided that “Snake River” and the surrounding rocks should be the next subject of investigation using the arm instruments. As SOWG Chair, I was responsible for leading the team to this decision, and the thoughtful analysis that the team recently completed made my job easy. In addition to the drive, we planned pre-drive ChemCam and Mastcam observations of nearby rocks, and all the post-drive imaging needed to properly plan arm activities in the new location.

Ken Herkenhoff is a ChemCam RMI specialist. An archive of Ken’s past updates can be read at http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/news/.