[meteorite-list] Mars Exploration Rover Update - January 20, 2006

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Jan 23 00:36:43 2006
Message-ID: <200601230535.k0N5Z4W19759_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Driving Again - sol 695-707, Jan 20, 2006:

Opportunity has resumed driving after engineers determined an
acceptable new way to stow the robotic arm during drives. With
the arm in the newly approved stow configuration, the rover
drove 2.4 meters (7.9 feet) on sol 707 (Jan. 19, 2006) to
approach a rock called "Overgaard," chosen for close examination
because of its cross-lamination texture.

When the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter was passing
overhead, Opportunity used its panoramic camera and miniature
thermal emission spectrometer for atmospheric observations
coordinated with observations by the orbiter. The short Phobos and
Deimos eclipse season started this week, and Opportunity observed
transits of the moons.

Earlier, Opportunity completed a very long integration with the
Moessbauer spectrometer and an overnight integration with the
alpha particle X-ray spectrometer on a target called "Ted." The
panoramic camera finished high-resolution imaging of the area
around the location where the rover worked for several weeks while
engineers determined the new ways to use and stow the arm. Symptoms
of a broken wire in a shoulder-joint motor had appeared back on sol
654 (Nov. 25, 2005). While at that location, Opportunity also put
its arm into various positions and photographed it with the front
hazard-avoidance camera, a calibration activity that the team dubbed
"Martian Tai Chi."

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 695 (Jan. 6, 2006): Continued Moessbauer spectrometer
integration at Ted, sunset imaging, high-resolution imaging of an
area with evidence of festooned crossbedding.

Sol 696: Overnight alpha particle X-ray spectrometer integration at
Ted, imaging with the navigation camera for terrain and driving
analysis.

Sol 697: Sky flat imaging with the microscopic imager, panoramic
camera and navigation camera for image calibration. Normally the
team would have stowed the robotic arm today (since arm work at this
location is done), but since engineers have not yet determined the
best stow position, we simply returned the arm to the ready position.

Sol 698: Observations with the miniature thermal emission
spectrometer and navigation camera, calibration activity the team
calls "Martian Tai Chi." During this activity, the arm is commanded
to a few different positions and the front hazard-avoidance camera
acquires images at each position. The arm location as reported by the
spacecraft is compared to the location shown in the images so the arm
model and camera model can be calibrated against each other.

Sol 699: Photometry observations with the navigation camera, start of
acquiring a high-resolution blue stereo panorama of the surrounding
outcrop (the "Fenway Panorama").

Sol 700: Miniature thermal emission spectrometer observations of the
atmosphere and several outcrop targets, continued photometry
observations.

Sol 701: Completion of Fenway Panorama and photometric observations.

Sol 702: Thirteen-filter observations of Overgaard with the panoramic
camera, atmospheric remote sensing.

Sols 703 to 705: Intended stowing of the robotic arm on sol 704 was not
successful due to faulting out of the shoulder-joint motor. The miniature
thermal emission spectrometer made atmospheric observations coordinated
with an overflight by Mars Express on sol 705. The panoramic camera was
used for some super-resolution imaging.

Sol 706: Successful stowing of robotic arm, panoramic camera observations
coordinated with Mars Express, observation of Deimos transit. The
resistance for the shoulder azimuth joint was increased to 65 ohms
(from 58 ohms) for this stow.

Sol 707: Opportunity drove back 1 meter (3.3 feet), took images, then
drove forward 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) to a target called "Lower Overgaard."

As of sol 707 (Jan. 19, 2006) Opportunity's total odometry is 6,504.55
meters (4.04 miles).
Received on Mon 23 Jan 2006 12:35:04 AM PST