New abrasion patch (#47, sol 1631)

We're only just receiving the images now (8 PM GMT), so this post will be updated a few times in the next day or two, but...

Wow. The outer rind of this rock is pretty tough! The abrasion bit has never made a pattern like this in any rock target before, even when the abrasion failed (closest example I can think of is abrasion patch #18, which we made on a boulder washed into the crater by flood - previously the hardest rock we've tackled to date). I'm surprised that the "purple coating" material - those stringy brownish splotches on the middle-right of the patch - survived the abrasion process, but it appears the hard ridged surface of the rock protected them from the abrasion bit.

For reference, this is the very same boulder and patch of rock from which we brushed away the dust yesterday (sol 1630).

Percy hits the jackpot again!