Contrast stretched MastCam-Z (full zoom) Sol 1639 (September 29, 2025) Plus 2 raw SuperCam Remote Micro Imager (RMI’s) of a small light toned feature seen in the rock in this MastCam-Z.
Note the first RMI was acquired at 04:48:06 Local Mean Solar Time (LMST) The second RMI timestamp is 05:10:13 LMST.
The MastCam-Z image pair have a timestamp of 05:13:28.
I’m unsure what the local time the sun rises at this location, but I’m assuming the RMI’s were acquired not long after sunrise.
The only activity that comes to mind for such early imaging with the RMI was a possible search for frost!
Any other theories out there are always welcome? :)
Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/LANL
Sunrise on sol 1639 was circa 05:20 LMST. I note that Percy was active before sunrise on 1638 as well, with some PIXL imaging of abrasion patch #46. We’ve seen early morning imaging activity in other recent sols as well, so - perhaps we should not be entirely surprised? I do share your puzzlement, however, Paul.
There was a full suite of multispectral imaging on this interesting clast back on 1626, albeit at noontime, and the very same light-toned close-up target was viewed by SuperCam RMI on that sol as well. Given the fairly rapid pace of operations in this Vernodden region, with the rover making abrasions at a steady pace, then moving on, I don’t find it surprising in retrospect that we would do follow-up imaging on a target like this, now that we’ve doubled back to patch #46.
