29th November 2016 Sol 1534

We have started our 19th drill or scoop.  Curiosity now aims to drill at regular elevation intervals (25 m) as we progress up through the Murray formation.  This will give us a representative set of mineral and compositional analyses so that we can track any environmental changes.

In this HazCam image we are using the Dust Removal Tool on the robotic arm turret. This drill will also be the first where we use a different drilling technique – percussionless – as this had caused some problems in past drilling.  As the Murray mudstone is soft, the rotary only action is likely to be sufficient.