[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: July 6-13, 2011

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 09:40:46 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201107151640.p6FGekVP005423_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Under One Mile from Crater Rim -
sols 2648-2655, July 6-13, 2011:

Opportunity has exceeded 32 kilometers (nearly 20 miles) of distance on
Mars and is now less than 1.5 kilometers (approximately a mile) from the
first landfall on the rim of Endeavour crater.

On Sol 2649 (July 7, 2011), the rover drove over 141 meters (463 feet)
to the southeast. Available energy permitted Opportunity to wake very
early for an ultra-high frequency (UHF) relay pass to return extra data
to Earth. On Sol 2651 (July 9, 2011), an atmospheric argon measurement
was performed with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). Also on
that sol, a test of trying to warm the rover's electronics to mitigate
clock drift was performed by keeping the rover awake longer. On the next
sol, the rover drove over 150 meters (492 feet), continuing in the
roughly southeast direction towards "Spirit Point" on the rim of
Endeavour. Then on Sol 2654 (July 12, 2011), Opportunity drove 80 meters
(262 feet) to the southeast, crossing the 32 kilometer (nearly 20-mile)
odometry mark.

As of Sol 2655 (July 13, 2011), solar array energy production was 435
watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.996 and a solar array
dust factor of 0.596.

Total odometry is 32,003.14 meters (32 kilometers, or 19.89 miles).
Received on Fri 15 Jul 2011 12:40:46 PM PDT