[meteorite-list] Mars Exploration Rovers Update - August 19, 2005

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Aug 22 11:51:33 2005
Message-ID: <200508221550.j7MFoVE00415_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

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

SPIRIT UPDATE: Onward and Upward - sol 572-578, Aug 19, 2005:

Spirit has made 54 meters (177 feet) of forward progress towards the
summit of "Husband Hill" this past week. This is excellent progress
considering Spirit is on restricted sols, so it can only drive every
other sol. (Restricted sols occur when the timing of the communications
pass from the Odyssey orbiter is too late in the sol to gather vital
location and health information about the rover after it executed recent
commands. The team back on Earth must wait until the next sol to find
out where and how the rover is.) After sol 576's drive, the team was
able to determine highest summit point, which is informally named
"Summit 1." Previously, the team believed "Summit 2" was slightly
higher. Furthermore, traversing to Summit 2 was deemed difficult, so
Spirit is headed towards Summit 1, which is roughly 70 meters (230 feet)
away.

Power has been extremely healthy at about 875 to 900 watt-hours per sol.
Spirit has been consistently using both morning and evening UHF
communications passes with the Odyssey orbiter every sol, which allows
the team to acquire and downlink more data.

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 572 (Aug. 12, 2005): Spirit performed targeted remote sensing,
including panoramic camera observations with 13 filters and miniature
thermal emission spectrometer stares.

Sol 573: The rover completed a 33.5-meter (109.9-foot) drive, driving
backwards towards the summit. Spirit also acquired a panoramic camera
mosaic.

Sol 574: Spirit performed untargeted remote sensing, including panoramic
camera and navigation camera dust devil observations, pre-sunset
panoramic camera imaging, and miniature thermal emission spectrometer
readings.

Sol 575: Spirit did more untargeted remote sensing, including panoramic
camera and navigation camera dust devil observations, panoramic camera
images of the filter magnets, and miniature thermal emission
spectrometer readings.

Sol 576: Spirit completed a 18.5-meter (60.7-foot) drive backwards and
uphill towards the summit. After the drive, the rover made observations
with its navigation camera and its miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Sol 577: The rover looked for dust devils with its navigation camera and
made other observations with the panoramic camera and miniature thermal
emission spectrometer.

Sol 578 (Aug. 18, 2005): The team prepared a plan for a drive of 20
meters (66 feet) toward Summit 1.

As of the end of its 578th sol on Mars, Spirit has driven 4,742 meters
(2.95 miles).

------------------------------------------------------------------------

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Biting into 'Strawberry' - sol 552-559,
Aug 19, 2005:

Opportunity completed a study of the cobble area by taking a close look
at the cobble "Arkansas" and a nearby soil target named "Reiner Gamma"
with the instruments on the robotic arm. A 3-meter (10-foot) bump took
the rover to an outcrop dubbed "Fruit Basket" for an intensive
investigation of targets there. So far Opportunity has studied "Lemon
Rind" with its complete suite of robotic arm instruments, and begun an
inspection of "Strawberry." The plan is to drive east to the "Erebus
Highway" after finishing work at Fruit Basket.

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 552 (Aug. 12, 2005): Opportunity took pictures with the microscopic
imager of soil target Reiner Gamma and took alpha particle X-ray
spectrometer readings on cobble Arkansas.

Sol 553 and 554: Opportunity took more Moessbauer spectrometer readings
on Arkansas and took alpha particle X-ray spectrometer readings on
Reiner Gamma.

Sol 555: Opportunity finished work with the robotic arm on the cobble
area and drove to a new outcrop, Fruit Basket.

Sol 556 and 557: Opportunity performed robotic arm work on Lemon Rind, a
target on Fruit Basket. The microscopic imager took pictures before and
after the rock abrasion tool brushed the area. The rover also used the
alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and Moessbauer spectrometer.

Sol 558: Opportunity performed robotic arm work on another target,
Strawberry, taking pictures with the microscopic imager before and after
a light grinding with the rock abrasion tool. Spirit also used the alpha
particle X-ray spectrometer.

Sol 559 (Aug.19, 2005): The plan is to use the Moessbauer spectrometer on
Lemon Rind.

As of the end of its 558th sol on Mars, Opportunity has driven 5,729
meters (about 3.56 miles).
Received on Mon 22 Aug 2005 11:50:30 AM PDT