[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: August 19-25, 2015

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2015 15:41:12 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201509022241.t82MfCQl016812_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Brushing a Rock and In-Situ Studies, sols 4113-4119,
August 19, 2015-August 25, 2018.

Opportunity is in 'Marathon Valley' on the west rim of Endeavour Crater
exploring for phyllosilicate clay minerals.

The rover is operating in persistent RAM mode (not using Flash for data
storage). The rover is in the midst of a grind campaign on the surface
target, 'Pvt. Robert Frazer.' On Sol 4114 (Aug. 20, 2015), Opportunity
ground about 2.5 millimeters into the surface to expose fresh outcrop
using the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) on the end of the robotic arm. This
was to be followed on the next sol by a brushing to remove the grind tailings
from the surface site. But, a sequencing error prevented the RAT from
initiating the brush activity. The project diagnosed the problem on the
Surface System Testbed (SSTB) rover at JPL and confirmed the corrective
action.

Meanwhile, the rover continued the remote sensing of the valley with several
Panoramic Camera (Pancam) panoramas collected of the North Wall of Marathon
Valley plus some 13-filter Pancam images of selected surface targets.
An Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer APXS measurement of atmospheric argon
was collected on the evening of Sol 4116 (Aug. 22, 2015). The plan ahead
is to complete the brushing of the freshly ground surface target for detailed
in-situ (contact) measurements.

As of Sol 4119 (Aug. 25, 2015), the solar array energy production was
404 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.652 and a solar
array dust factor of 0.590.

Total odometry is 26.41 miles (42.51 kilometers), more than a marathon.
Received on Wed 02 Sep 2015 06:41:12 PM PDT