NASA Mars Curiosity Update: Inspection of Rock Target ‘Bathurst Inlet’
October 1, 2012
On Sol 54 (Sept. 30, 2012), Curiosity used two tools at the end of its arm to inspect two targets on an angular rock called “Bathurst Inlet.” The rover had driven 7 feet (2.1 meters) the preceding sol to place itself within arm’s reach of the targets.
Curiosity took close-up images of Bathurst Inlet with its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), and took readings with the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) to identify chemical elements in the target. MAHLI also inspected another location within reach, “Cowles.”
A Sol 54 raw image from Curiosity’s left Navigation Camera showing the arm at work at Bathurst Inlet is at http://1.usa.gov/NYUbz3 .
Sol 54, in Mars local mean solar time at Gale Crater, ended at 7:07 p.m. Sept. 30, PDT (10:07 p.m. EDT).
