[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: May 18-23, 2012

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 25 May 2012 14:27:02 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201205252127.q4PLR24A025555_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://marsrovers/mission/status.html#opportunity

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Waking Up with the Sun's Rays - sols 2956-2961,
May 18-23, 2012:

After moving from her winter perch, Opportunity drove to an undisturbed
dusty patch to investigate the chemical origin of the ubiquitous Martian
dust.

On Sol 2957 (May 19, 2012), the rover used her robotic arm to collect a
Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic of the surface target, called "North
Pole." This was followed by an Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS)
placement for a multi-sol integration. On Sol 2960 (May 22, 2012),
Opportunity repositioned the robotic arm instruments on an associated
target for another set of Microscopic Imager mosaics followed by a
placement of the APXS for a long measurement.

The plan ahead is to resume driving toward the north end of Cape York in
search of more gypsum veins. The rover benefited from another small dust
cleaning event, improving solar array energy production. With the
seasonally improving solar insolation and the recent dust clearing
events, the rover is now experiencing solar array wake-ups, the
autonomous rover wake-ups induced by bright morning sunlight.

As of Sol 2961 (May 23, 2012), solar array energy production was 395
watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.387 and an improved
solar array dust factor of 0.559.

Total odometry is 21.36 miles (34,380.58 meters).
Received on Fri 25 May 2012 05:27:02 PM PDT