[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: February 10-18, 2015

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 15:56:32 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201502202356.t1KNuWWV008684_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Solar Panels Get a Small Energy Boost -
sols 3928-3936, February 10, 2015-February 18, 2015:

Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards
"Marathon Valley," a putative location for abundant clay minerals now
only about 492 feet (150 meters) away.

The project is preparing to mask off the troubled Bank 7 sector of the
Flash file system with a new version of the flight software to be
uploaded shortly. On Sols 3928 and 3929 (Feb. 10 and 11, 2015),
Opportunity performed some targeted color Panoramic Camera (Pancam)
observations. On Sol 3930 (Feb. 12, 2015), the rover drove about 66 feet
(20 meters) to get a view into Marathon Valley. This was followed by a
post-drive Navigation Camera (Navcam) panorama. Opportunity drove again
on Sol 3932 (Feb. 14, 2015), bumping near a potential surface target. An
atmospheric argon measurement with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer
(APXS) was made. On the following two sols a 360-degree Navcam panorama
was collected.

A small dust cleaning events occurred on Sol 3934 (Feb. 16, 2015)
improving energy production by about 12 percent. On Sol 3935 (Feb. 17,
2015), the robotic arm was used to collect a Microscopic Imager (MI)
mosaic of the surface target "Jean Baptiste Charboneau" followed by an
APXS placement on the same for a multi-hour integration. Opportunity
drove again on Sol 3936 (Feb. 18, 2015), with a 9.8-meter drive to get a
better view into the interior of Marathon Valley.

As of Sol 3936 (Feb. 18, 2015), the solar array energy production was
559 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.816 and an
improved solar array dust factor of 0.695.

Total odometry is 26.13 miles (42.05 kilometers).
Received on Fri 20 Feb 2015 06:56:32 PM PST