[meteorite-list] Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity Update: June 17-22, 2011

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2011 19:03:24 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201106270203.p5R23OgN026656_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Getting Closer to Endeavour Crater -
sols 2629-2634, June 17-22, 2011:

Opportunity is making excellent progress towards Endeavour crater with
only 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles) to go before reaching the first landfall
on the rim, a place called "Spirit Point."

The rover drove southeast on four sols, Sols 2629, 2630, 2633 and 2634
(June 17, 18, 21 and 22, 2011), totaling more than 380 meters (1,247 feet).

With all this driving, which requires many seconds on the rover's
inertial measurement unit (IMU), regular sun finds, called Quick Fine
Attitudes (QFA) are performed to correct for expected drift in the
rover's gyros. A QFA was performed on Sol 2633 (June 21, 2011). Over the
three-sol weekend plan, an overnight Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer
(APXS) measurement of atmospheric argon was performed on Sol 2631 (June
19, 2011). With the improve energy production from cleaner solar arrays,
on Sol 2634 (June 22, 2011), an early morning wakeup for an AM
ultra-high frequency (UHF) relay pass was implemented to return more
data from the rover.

As of Sol 2634 (June 22, 2011), solar array energy production was 505
watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.926 and a solar array
dust factor of 640.

Total odometry is 31,203.25 meters (31.20 kilometers, or 19.39 miles).
Received on Sun 26 Jun 2011 10:03:24 PM PDT