[meteorite-list] Mars Exploration Rovers Update - November 4, 2005

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Nov 6 22:57:43 2005
Message-ID: <200511070356.jA73uHh21954_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

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

SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Imaging "East Basin" - sol 647-654, Nov 04, 2005:

Sprit is healthy. The team operated in "restricted sols" from sol 647 to
654. (Restricted sols occur when the timing of the communications pass
from the Odyssey orbiter is too late in the day 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.)

The team planned two long Moessbauer integrations and drove 34 meters
(112 feet). On sols 653 and 654, the team planned targeted remote
sensing of the "East Basin." This is one of the last opportunities to
image it before the basin is no longer in sight.

Spirit also completed three overnight observations. The team returns to
standard planning sols the week of Nov. 7, intending to continue driving
downhill.

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 647 (Oct. 28, 2005): Spirit performed a 22-hour reading with the
Moessbauer spectrometer and made night sky observations.

Sol 648: Spirit performed a 23-hour Moessbauer reading.

Sol 649: Spirit drove 18 meters (59 feet).

Sol 650: Spirit performed remote sensing and made night sky observations
with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Sol 651: Spirit drove 16 meters (52 feet).

Sol 652: Spirit performed untargeted remote sensing and made night sky
observations.

Sol 653: Spirit performed targeted remote sensing of the East Basin.

Sol 654 (Nov. 4, 2005): Spirit performed targeted remote sensing.

As of sol 654, Spirit has driven 5,143.63 meters (3.20 miles)

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Dusting Off and Getting Back to Work - sol 631-634,
Nov 04, 2005:

Having weathered a recent dust storm, Opportunity is back to business.
Energy levels are on the rise as the rover prepares for its next
investigative campaign.

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 631 (Nov. 2, 2005): With images of the rover's current location in
hand, rover planners were able to plan a drive of just over 39 meters
(128 feet), which brought Opportunity to the edge of a large stretch of
outcrop.

Sol 632: Opportunity drove about 5 meters (16 feet) to a target called
"Olympia."

Sols 633 and 634 (Nov. 4 and 5, 2005): The two-sol plan is to kick off
the robotic arm campaign at Olympia. The plan includes grinding a target
called "Kalavrita" with the rock abrasion tool, inspecting the target
with the microscopic imager both before and after the grind, and using
the panoramic camera to take images for a mosaic. Output from the solar
panels on sol 633 was 528 watt hours.

Opportunity's total odometry, as of sol 633, is 6418.07 meters (3.99 miles).
Received on Sun 06 Nov 2005 10:56:17 PM PST