[meteorite-list] Opportunity Surpasses 20 Kilometers of Total Driving

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:36:10 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201003252336.o2PNaA6L013379_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-097

Opportunity Surpasses 20 Kilometers of Total Driving
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
March 24, 2010

PASADENA, Calif -- NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity today
surpassed 20 kilometers (12.43 miles) of total driving since it landed
on Mars 74 months ago.

The drive taking the rover past that total covered 67 meters (220 feet)
southward as part of the rover's long-term trek toward Endeavour Crater
to the southeast. It was on the 2,191st Martian day, or sol, of the
mission and brought Opportunity's total odometry to 20.0433 kilometers.
To reach Endeavour, the healthy but aging rover will need to drive about
12 kilometers (7.5 miles) farther.

Opportunity's mission on Mars was originally planned to last for three
months with a driving-distance goal of 600 meters (less than half a mile).

Since landing, Opportunity has examined a series of craters on the plain
of Meridiani, and the journey so far has covered a portion of the plain
with negligible tilt. Now, the rover is approaching a portion tilting
slightly southward. Recent images toward the southwest show the rim of a
crater named Bopolu, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) away.

Meanwhile, Spirit, Opportunity's twin, is continuing minimal operations
due to declining solar energy with the approach of winter in Mars'
southern hemisphere. Spirit has been communicating on schedule once per
week. It is expected to drop to a low-power hibernation mode soon that
could prevent communications for weeks at a time during the next several
months.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute
of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project
for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For more
information about the Mars rovers, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rovers.

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

2010-097
Received on Thu 25 Mar 2010 07:36:10 PM PDT