[meteorite-list] Mars Exploration Rover Update - November 26, 2007

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:46:55 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200711271746.JAA12426_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

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

SPIRIT UPDATE: Rover Slips in Sandy Terrain - sol 1377-1383,
November 26, 2007:

On the way to "Winter Haven 3," the spot on the north face of "Home
Plate" where NASA's Spirit rover is headed, the rover has driven into an
area below a hummock (elevated area). Spirit has tried unsuccessfully
during the past week to climb onto the hummock and make progress toward
Winter Haven 3. Because it is critical to reach the north face while
enough solar energy is available to get there, Spirit spends every
available day driving. In-between drives, Spirit recharges the batteries
and conducts very light remote sensing.

The rover's drive on sol 1378 (Nov. 18, 2007) ended early when Spirit's
unusable, right front wheel got snagged on a buried rock, causing the
rover to turn and drive into a "keep-out zone." Two Martian days later,
on sol 1380 (Nov. 20, 2007), the drive faulted out again when the rover
experienced more than 90-percent slip after traveling 3.6 meters (11.8
feet). The rover's handlers continue to work on strategies for enabling
Spirit to drive away from the outcrop.

Spirit's top priority is to reach the north-facing slope of "Home
Plate," where the rover plans to hunker down during the coming cold,
winter season of waning sunlight. Spirit is healthy and all subsystems
are nominal. Energy is currently around 305 watt-hours (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 receiving morning instructions directly from Earth via
the high-gain antenna, sending evening data to Earth at UHF frequencies
via the Odyssey orbiter, and measuring atmospheric dust levels with the
panoramic camera, Spirit completed the following activities:

Sol 1377 (Nov. 17, 2007): Spirit acquired an image mosaic of "West
Valley" and thumbnail images of the sky with the panoramic camera.

Sol 1378: Spirit drove toward the hummock known as "Site 7," took images
just before and after ending the drive with the hazard avoidance
cameras, and acquired post-drive image mosaics with the navigation and
panoramic cameras. The images indicated that the right front wheel had
slipped off a buried rock and turned away from the targeted drive
region. The rover acquired full-color foreground images, using all 13
filters of the panoramic camera.

Sol 1379: Spirit acquired a post-drive, rearward-looking mosaic of
images using the navigation camera.

Sol 1380: Spirit drove 3.6 meters (11.8 feet), took images before and
after the drive with the hazard avoidance cameras, and acquired
post-drive image mosaics with the navigation and panoramic cameras.
Early the next morning, the rover completed a survey of rock clasts and
took images of the rover's tracks (to look for compositional changes
revealed by trenching) and the Martian horizon with the panoramic camera.

Sol 1381: Plans called for Spirit to recharge the batteries.

Sol 1382: Plans called for Spirit to monitor dust on the miniature
thermal emission spectrometer, acquire panoramic camera images of a
target known as "Sorbet" near the center of Home Plate, and acquire
movie frames in search of dust devils using the navigation camera.

Sol 1383 (Nov. 24, 2007): Plans called for Spirit to calibrate the
panoramic camera by taking images in darkness, acquire spot images of
the sky with the panoramic camera, check for drift (changes over time)
in the miniature thermal emission spectrometer, and survey the sky and
ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Odometry:

As of sol 1380 (Nov. 20, 2007), Spirit's total odometry was 7,428.01
meters (4.62 miles).
Received on Tue 27 Nov 2007 12:46:55 PM PST