I'm attending a 3-day meeting of the full MSL science team, so I'm less focused on rover operations than usual this week. After lots of interesting discussion of scientific data and hypotheses today, we did spend some time discussing where to drill and acquire a rock sample. The choices have been narrowed down to two locations on the flank of the hill called Mount Remarkable (at upper left, here ). The scientific advantages of the two sites were discussed, and there were no major differences identified. But getting to one of the sites would involve driving over rough, rocky terrain that might damage the wheels, so that site was not favored.
Written by Ken Herkenhoff, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center
