Last time I mentioned the MECA Wet Chemistry test that we did during the ORT. Due to a hardware issue, MECA could not be configured to receive the sample. Unfortunately, MECA did not perform any wet chem experiments during this ORT. The remainder of the ORT played out and the Science Operations Center is once again quiet.

Testing continues, with the RA occupying much of our time. We have had to dig a 50cm deep trench with the arm. We in the PIT actually dug the first 25cm by hand, as this would take the arm about a week to dig out. As it was, the last 25cm took 3 or 4 days, including all the imaging in between each layer. Last week, and into this week, the RA will go through a sample acquisition and delivery to each of the 8 TEGA ovens or cells. All these are to full high level testing requirements, designed to validate how well the arm performs these critical tasks. So far, so good.

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