[meteorite-list] Mars Explorations Rovers Update: March 10-17, 2010

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:11:05 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201003200111.o2K1B5lH026313_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

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

SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Electronics Getting Colder - sols 2200-2203,
March 12-15, 2010:

In her winter position, still embedded in the area called "Troy" on the
west side of Home Plate, Spirit has transitioned to executing a single,
seven-sol plan each week, as long as power permits.

The seven-sol plan contains a single X-band uplink and a single
Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) downlink. The activity on each sol consists
simply of a brief wakeup, an atmospheric opacity (tau) measurement, and
then a shutdown for the rest of the day and night.

The last downlink from the rover was on Sol 2203 (March 15, 2010). From
that downlink, Spirit was still under master sequence control and all
systems were green. Energy production was down to 139 watt-hours per
sol. Battery state of charge did not decrease significantly, suggesting
that Spirit was able to stay roughly power neutral over the last few
sols. Solar array energy production levels will continue to drop and
rover heating requirements will continue to increase, leading to
widening energy deficits.

The solid-state power amplifier (SSPA), as a proxy for the rover
electronics module (REM), reached a record low temperature of minus 41
degrees Celsius (minus 41.8 degrees Fahrenheit). Spirit is getting
colder than ever before. The plan for this week is to sequence another
seven-sol plan to be uplinked this Friday with a single UHF downlink
over the weekend. Spirit could enter low-power fault at anytime and
become quiet for an extended period of time to charge her batteries.

As of Sol 2203 (March 15, 2010), the rover solar array energy production
was to 139 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (tau) of 0.379
measured on Sol 2202 (March 14, 2010), and a dust factor of 0.507. Total
odometry is unchanged at 7,730.50 meters (4.80 miles).

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: More Driving for Opportunity - sols 2178-2185,
March 10-17, 2010:

Opportunity has been making fast progress along the path to Endeavour
crater.

The rover drove four times in the last week totaling almost 285 meters
(935 feet) of progress. On Sol 2179 (March 11, 2010), Opportunity,
driving backwards to the southwest covered over 70 meters (230 feet) of
distance. Next, on Sol 2181 (March 13, 2010), the rover headed more
southerly, covering almost 73 meters (240 feet). Then, two more drives
due south on Sols 2183 (March 15, 2010), and 2184 (March 16, 2010),
achieving 71 meters (233 feet) each. The plan ahead...you guessed
it...more driving.

As of Sol 2185 (March 17, 2010), the solar array energy production was
283 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (tau) of 0.405 and a dust
factor of 0.523. Total odometry is 19,778.24 meters (12.29 miles).
Received on Fri 19 Mar 2010 09:11:05 PM PDT