Three sols after the first (messy, unsuccessful) attempt to abrade another rock in this clay-bearing region of the crater rim, Percy has made a second attempt, less than a metre away.

This target seems not to have fractured and broken as quickly and easily as the previous stuff, but this latest attempt ended after only 13 minutes - shorter than the usual 15-25 minutes required at other abrasion sites, but longer than the previous one, which ended after only 10 minutes. I’m wondering if the rover was programmed to use less force with this abrasion; if so, the results so far are not encouraging.

Mars is hard. Even when it’s not.