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At the start of this week, we did a preload test on the target \u201cMammoth Lakes,\u201d the rightmost bright ellipse (DRT ellipse, so less dusty) on the workspace image above. The preload test shows the stability of the rock, making sure it doesn\u2019t move and that it doesn\u2019t look like it will fracture under pressure from the drill. This is obviously a very important test! For example, if the rock fractured, the arm might slip down unexpectedly, so we really want to get that confirmation before we commit to drilling here. We also want to ensure the arm can adequately control the orientation of the drill as it makes progress into the rock. Unfortunately, as Conor reported on Wednesday, the preload test didn\u2019t give us the information that we wanted to go ahead with full drill. However, this workspace (\u201cWhitebark Pass\u201d) is very intriguing, so the RPs found us a second spot (\u201cMammoth Lakes 2\u201d), about 2.4 inches (6 centimeters) away from the original \u201cMammoth Lakes\u201d to do a preload test.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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