[meteorite-list] Mars Exploration Rover Update - September 8, 2006

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Sep 8 10:43:46 2006
Message-ID: <200609081443.HAA23812_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

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

SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Monitors Dust and Searches for Clouds - sol
950-956, September 08, 2006:

Spirit is healthy and continues to make progress on the rover's winter
science campaign. During the past week, Spirit continued filling in
sections of the rover's deck as part of the "Deck Pan" mosaic of
panoramic images.

Electrical power from the rover's solar array has continued to hold
steady at approximately 280 watt-hours per sol (a hundred watt-hours is
the amount of electricity needed to light one 100-watt bulb for one hour).

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 950 (Sept. 4, 2006): Spirit collected images of the rover deck with
the panoramic camera, checked the atmosphere for opacity caused by dust,
and scanned the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission
spectrometer.

Sol 951: Spirit collected images of the rover deck with the panoramic
camera, checked the atmosphere for opacity caused by dust, and scanned
the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Sol 952: Spirit collected images of the rover deck with the panoramic
camera, checked the atmosphere for opacity caused by dust, and scanned
the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Sol 953: Plans called for Spirit to acquire images of the sun high in
the sky and acquire data from rock targets known as "Primero" and
"Castilla" using the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. Plans also
included checking the atmosphere for opacity caused by dust and scanning
the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Sol 954: Plans called for Spirit to acquire panoramic camera images of
the capture and filter magnets (two dust-collecting magnets on the rover
deck), search for clouds using the navigation camera, check the
atmosphere for opacity caused by dust, and scan the sky and ground with
the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Sol 955: Plans called for Spirit to acquire images of the rover deck,
microscopic images of the capture magnet, and miniature thermal emission
spectrometer data on a rock target known as "Signy." The rover was also
slated to make daily observations of the sky and ground with the
panoramic camera and miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Sol 956 (Sept. 11, 2006): Plans called for Spirit to collect images of
the rover deck with the panoramic camera and microscopic images of the
filter magnet, as well as make the usual daily observations of the sky
and ground with the panoramic camera and miniature thermal emission
spectrometer.

Odometry:

As of sol 952 (Sept. 6, 2006), Spirit's total odometry remained at
6,876.18 meters (4.27 miles).
Received on Fri 08 Sep 2006 10:43:16 AM PDT