Hi, this is the Mars Exploration Rover report for Tuesday August 17th 2004 and I’m Beth Dewell.

On MER-A we’re currently on sol 222 in the morning. We’re still at the West Spur in Columbia Hills at a large outcrop where we’ve been for about ten days. We’re very excited because we’ve RAT-ted one of our deepest RAT holes ever at just under nine millemeters and we’ve been using the Mossbauer for about four days inside the hole and the scientists are excited about the prospects of what they’ll find.

On MER-B it’s sol 201 in the afternoon. The goal for today was a crosslip drive of about nine meters to an area called ‘the Tendril’. We’re hoping to get an assessment of the sanddune area there and decide if it’s possible to traverse to the sanddune.

And that’s what’s going on on Mars today.