[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Preps for Comet Siding Spring Encounter

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2014 16:23:28 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201410022323.s92NNSE3027112_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status.html#opportunity

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Takes Twilight Images; Preps for Comet
Siding Spring Encounter - sols 3793-3798, September 24, 2014 -
September 30, 2014:

Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards
"Marathon Valley," a putative location for abundant clay minerals only a
mile (1.6 kilometers) to the south.

The rover is examining the ejecta field of the small crater named
"Ulysses." On Sol 3793 (Sept. 24, 2014), the rover bumped 5.4 feet (1.65
meters) towards a surface target, called "Hoover," collecting panoramic
imagery before and after the drive. A test of a twilight Panoramic
Camera (Pancam) observation was performed as preparation for the
observations Comet Siding Spring in a few weeks (Oct. 19, 2014).

That evening on Sol 3793, the rover experienced both an "amnesia" event
and a reset of the rover. The reset cancelled all running sequences and
put the rover into auto mode. The rover was healthy, so the project
restored the rover to normal sequence operation on Sol 3795 (Sept. 26,
2014). On that sol, Opportunity performed a Rock Abrasion Tool brush of
the surface target Hoover, collected a Microscopic Imager mosaic of the
brushed area, then placed the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer for an
overnight integration. That evening, another amnesia event occurred, but
was benign.

On Sol 3798 (Sept. 30, 2014), Opportunity bumped again, about 6.6 feet
(2 meters), towards another surface target for in-situ (contact)
investigation. The project continues to investigate the anomalous events
associated with the Flash file system. Opportunity is otherwise in good
health.

As of Sol 3798, the solar array energy production was 630 watt-hours
with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.943 and a solar array dust factor
of 0.735.

Total odometry is 25.34 miles (40.78 kilometers).
Received on Thu 02 Oct 2014 07:23:28 PM PDT