Comparing recently downlinked images from Sol 1069 (22 Feb 2024), the partially closed (and apparently stuck) dust cover for SHERLOC seems to have opened by a few more degrees.

SHERLOC is one of the mission’s primary instruments, used to detect organic molecules and identify minerals. Losing the full use of this instrument would be a problem.

The following sequence of images, taken several minutes apart, will show the dust cover’s motion:

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01069/ids/edr/browse/zcam/ZL0_1069_0761842926_818ECM_N0501618ZCAM05177_110085J01.png

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01069/ids/edr/browse/zcam/ZL0_1069_0761844394_678ECM_N0501618ZCAM05177_110085J01.png

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01069/ids/edr/browse/zcam/ZL0_1069_0761845258_706ECM_N0501618ZCAM05177_110085J01.png