[meteorite-list] Mars Exploration Rovers Update - February 22, 2004

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:25 2004
Message-ID: <200402230200.SAA03196_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html

SPIRIT UPDATE: Trench Exam Continues - sol 49, Feb 22, 2004

Spirit continued its inspection of the trench dubbed "Road Cut" during
the rover's 49th sol, ending at 1:56 p.m. Sunday, PST. It used three
instruments on its robotic arm to examine the subsurface soil exposed by
the sol 47 digging of the trench.

Before dawn on sol 49, Spirit switched from its Moessbauer spectrometer
to its alpha particle X-ray spectrometer for analysis of soil on the
trench floor. Later, controllers played "Coisinha do Pai," by Beth
Carvalho, as wake-up music. The rover inspected targets on the wall and
floor of the trench with its microscope, then placed the Moessbauer
spectrometer against a target on the trench wall for identifying the
iron-bearing minerals there. The miniature thermal emission spectrometer
took remote readings on the rover's wheel tracks in the morning and
afternoon.

Plans for sol 50 (ending at 2:35 p.m. Monday, PST) call for finishing
inspection of the trench, then resuming the journey toward the rim of
a crater dubbed "Bonneville," followed by a longer drive the following
sol.


OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Busy Microscope at "El Capitan" - sol 28, Feb 22, 2004

On sol 28, which ended at 1:38 a.m. Sunday, PST, Opportunity moved its
arm repeatedly to make close-up inspections the "El Capitan" part of
the street-curb-sized outcrop in the crater where the rover is working.
Opportunity took 46 pictures with its microscope, examining several
locations on "El Capitan" at a range of focal distances. It also placed
its Moessbauer spectrometer and its alpha particle X-ray spectrometer on
the rock target to assess what minerals and what elements are present.

Controllers chose the song "I am a Rock," performed by Paul Simon and
Art Garfunkel, as Opportunity's sol 28 wake-up music. The sol's
activities included observations by the miniature thermal emission
spectrometer and the panoramic camera, as well as the use of the tools
on the arm.

The arm's complex maneuvers totaled 25 minutes of actual arm movement.
Rover planners' success in accomplishing them drew a round of applause
in the Mission Support Area at JPL during the afternoon
downlink from Mars.

During the martian night, early on sol 29, Opportunity woke up and moved
its arm again to switch from the Moessbauer spectrometer to the alpha
particle X-ray spectrometer. Additional close-up inspections are
planned for later in sol 29, which ends at 2:17 a.m. Monday. Plans for
sol 30 feature the use of the rock abrasion tool to grind through the
surface at one target on "El Capitan."
Received on Sun 22 Feb 2004 09:00:07 PM PST