[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: October 28 - November 3, 2015

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 2015 21:18:40 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201511090518.tA95IeoQ026094_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Just In Time For Halloween, A Network Problem And
An Amnesia Event Slows Down Robotic Arm Work - sols 4181-4187, October
28, 2015-November 03, 2015:

Opportunity is within 'Marathon Valley' on the west rim of Endeavour Crater.

The plan ahead was for Opportunity to use the robotic arm to place the
Alpha Particle X-ray spectrometer down on a target for a week while the
project conducted a weeklong test and readout of Flash memory. However,
a Deep Space Network problem prevented the rover's plan from being radiated,
so the rover executed run out plans on Sols 4184 and 4185 (Oct. 31 and
Nov. 1, 2015).

On Sol 4186 (Nov. 2, 2015), commands were sent to the rover to enable
the use of Flash memory and to spend the week returning science data already
in Flash memory. Although those commands were successful, the rover experienced
an amnesia event on Sol 4186 (Nov. 2, 2015). As contingency, Flash Bank
7 readouts were performed instead. On Sol 4187 (Nov. 3, 2015), the rover
successfully mounted Flash and began the return of the science data. The
plan for the balance of the week is to continue with the return of science
data from Flash.

As of Sol 4187 (Nov. 3, 2015), the solar array energy production was 344
watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.472 and a solar array
dust factor of 0.574.

Total odometry is 26.48 miles (42.62 kilometers), more than a marathon.
Received on Mon 09 Nov 2015 12:18:40 AM PST