[meteorite-list] Mars Exploration Rover Update - November 19, 2007

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:58:55 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200711202158.NAA02128_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Peers Beneath Surface of "Bathtub Ring"
- sol 1349-1354, Nov 19, 2007:

Opportunity remains parked at the rock layer known as "Smith" -- part of
the "bathtub ring" of rock layers beneath the edge of "Victoria Crater
-- at "Duck Bay," the alcove where the rover entered the crater. During
a test of the wire brush on the rock abrasion tool in a new mode of
operation developed to work around recent encoder failures, Opportunity
was mistakenly commanded to rotate the brush in the wrong direction. As
a result, the brush appears to have been bent outward, perpendicular to
the plane of rotation. The engineering team is currently testing
strategies for mitigating the bent brush.

The science team's top priority is to grind deeper into Smith and
collect compositional data about the rock using the alpha-particle X-ray
spectrometer.

Opportunity is otherwise healthy, with solar array energy levels around
660 watt-hours and atmospheric dust measurements, known as Tau, at 0.9
(100 watt-hours is the amount of energy needed to light a 100-watt bulb
for one hour).

Sol-by-sol summary:

In addition to morning uplinks directly from Earth via the rover's
high-gain antenna, evening downlinks to Earth via the Odyssey orbiter at
UHF frequencies, and standard panoramic-camera measurements of
atmospheric opacity caused by dust, Opportunity completed the following
activities:

Sol 1349 (Nov. 9, 2007): Opportunity acquired a mosaic of images of
"Cape Verde" from below and a mosaic of images of Smith using the
panoramic camera. The rover relayed data to Odyssey during an overnight
pass of the orbiter.

Sol 1350: Opportunity completed diagnostic tests of the rock abrasion
tool, measured argon in the Martian atmosphere using the alpha-particle
X-ray spectrometer, and acquired full-color images, using all 13 filters
of the panoramic camera, of the freshly brushed surface of Smith.

Sol 1351: Opportunity acquired an image mosaic of Smith with the
panoramic camera and relayed data to the Odyssey orbiter overnight.

Sol 1352: Opportunity took images of "Cabo Frio" with the panoramic
camera and ran diagnostic tests of the rock abrasion tool. The rover
acquired images of the rock abrasion tool with the panoramic camera and
placed the Moessbauer spectrometer on Smith in preparation for measuring
the abundance and composition of iron-bearing minerals. Opportunity then
acquired data using the Moessbauer spectrometer. The rover took
additional images of Cabo Frio and Cape Verde -- both promontories of
the scalloped rim of Victoria Crater -- with the panoramic camera.
Opportunity also acquired a mosaic of images of the rock layer known as
"Lyell" using the panoramic camera.

Sol 1353: Opportunity continued to collect data from Smith with the
Moessbauer spectrometer. Opportunity took panoramic-camera images of Cape
Verde and Cabo Frio at different times of day and took spot images of
the sky.

Sol 1354 (Nov. 15, 2007): Opportunity completed diagnostic tests of the
rock abrasion tool with the panoramic camera and placed the
alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer on the external capture magnet. The
rover tested UHF communications with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in
preparation for next year's arrival of the Phoenix lander. Opportunity
took panoramic-camera images of Cape Verde, acquired compositional data
about dust particles on the capture magnet using the alpha-particle
X-ray spectrometer, and took thumbnail images of the sky with the
panoramic camera.

Odometry:

As of sol 1354 (Nov. 15, 2007), Opportunity's total odometry remained at
11,584.32 meters (7.2 miles).
Received on Tue 20 Nov 2007 04:58:55 PM PST