Tuesday 2nd October Sol 56

We are getting excellent close up images with MAHLI of the rocks underneath us at the rim of Glenelg.  Soon we will pause to scoop a fine-grained sample for our XRD experiment. 

The MAHLI image here (width about 4  cm) shows an area free of dust.  Dust covering is a problem for a variety of Mars observations, from near Infra Red spectral imaging of the surface by orbiters like MRO, to making textural observations with the cameras on Curiosity.  The arm’s brush and drill are two ways of overcoming this.