Yesterday's plan executed successfully including a short bump that placed us in front of an interesting block that may just contain our next drilled target!

Before the science team commits to drilling the target "Encanto," we will first investigate the chemistry and composition of the target using APXS, ChemCam, and Mastcam (using their multispectral capability), to ensure that it is scientifically in-line with the rest of the Marker Band. Additionally, we will perform a preload test which will provide a sense of the stability of the block.

El Encanto is a town and municipality in the Amazonas region of Colombia. Additionally one translation of the Spanish word "encanto" is "charm" - we indeed hope this drill target is charmed after we faced challenges with our last two drill attempts on the Marker Band.

In addition to today's initial drill campaign activities, we will take a 360 degree Mastcam mosaic and perform our regular cadence of environmental monitoring activities.

Looking forward to seeing what this "Encanto" holds for us on Friday!

Images details
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took 28 images in Gale Crater using its mast-mounted Right Navigation Camera (Navcam) to create this mosaic. The seam-corrected mosaic provides a 360-degree cylindrical projection panorama of the Martian surface centered at 195 degrees azimuth (measured clockwise from north).

Curiosity took the images on January 18, 2023, Sol 3715 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission at drive 1676, site number 99. The local mean solar time for the image exposures was from 2 PM to 4 PM. Each Navcam image has a 45 degree field of view.

CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Related Links
Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more

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