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Farewell, Victoria, And On To Endeavour
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 11, 2008 Opportunity took the last images of "Victoria Crater" before beginning the journey to Endeavour Crater. The final focus of the rover's cameras was a cliff at the edge of Victoria nicknamed "Cape Victory." After spending more than two years investigating this spectacular crater, Opportunity took parting images as Victoria disappeared into the distance. The rover first arrived at the rim of Victoria on sol 952 (September 28, 2006), at the top of a sloping alcove known as "Duck Bay." Opportunity has made good progress, driving more than 314 meters (1,030 feet)! Near the end of that leg of the journey, Opportunity began to see small ripples about 10 centimeters (4 inches) high. Opportunity completed work on images of the miniature thermal emission spectrometer after the shake test performed on Sol 1680 (Oct. 14, 2008). That's when the rover shook the instrument's pointing mirror for 3 seconds to try to shake dust off the mirror. In the end, images did not show a measurable improvement, but rover planners aim to try again in the near future. Other remote sensing highlights for the week included panoramic-camera imaging of some boulder tracks within Victoria, along with the usual observations of the sky, clouds, atmospheric dust, and dust accumulation on the rover itself. Opportunity is healthy, with all subsystems performing as expected as of Martian day, or sol, 1687 (Oct. 22, 2008). Power has been averaging 589 watt-hours during the past week (100 watt-hours is the amount of energy needed to light a 100-watt bulb for one hour.) This is a slight decrease from the week before and is the result of slightly elevated dust levels in the atmosphere and a change in the orientation of Opportunity's solar panels. Sol-by-sol summary In addition to measuring daily, dust-related changes in atmospheric clarity with the panoramic camera and sending regular updates to Earth by relaying data to NASA's Odyssey orbiter, Opportunity completed the following activities: Sol 1681 (Oct. 15, 2008): Opportunity acquired images of boulder tracks inside Victoria Crater and surveyed the sky at high Sun with the panoramic camera. The rover checked for drift (changes with time) in the miniature thermal emission spectrometer, conducted a utility test of the instrument as well as a post-shake test calibration of observations of the ground and sky. Sol 1682: In the morning, Opportunity used the panoramic camera to take super-resolution images of Cape Victory, a 3-by-1 panel of frames of the area around Cape Victory, and thumbnail images of the sky for calibration purposes. The rover searched for morning clouds with the navigation camera. Before driving, Opportunity took a 3-by-1 panel of panoramic-camera images of a target known as "Iceland," then moved a short distance for a long-baseline, stereo panorama. Opportunity acquired post-drive images with the panoramic and navigation cameras, including a 7-by-1 panel of rearward-looking images. Sol 1683: In the morning, Opportunity took spot images of the sky for calibration purposes and surveyed the horizon with the panoramic camera. The rover then acquired part 2 of the long-baseline, stereo panorama begun the day before. Opportunity acquired post-drive images with the panoramic and navigation cameras. Sol 1684: Opportunity took thumbnail images of the sky with the panoramic camera in the morning. The rover measured argon gas in the Martian atmosphere with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer. Sol 1685: Opportunity began the day by surveying the horizon with the panoramic camera and searching for morning clouds with the navigation camera. At midday, Opportunity took images measuring albedo (surface reflectivity) with the panoramic camera. Sol 1686: Opportunity took morning, spot images of the sky and full-color, systematic, foreground images with the panoramic camera. Opportunity completed the day's drive and performed a "get quick fine attitude" to determine the rover's precise position relative to the Sun. After the drive, Opportunity acquired image mosaics with the navigation and panoramic cameras. Sol 1687 (Oct. 21, 2008): Opportunity started the day by surveying the horizon with panoramic camera, searching for clouds with the navigation (which involves taking six time-lapse movie frames), and monitoring dust on the panoramic-camera mast assembly. The rover then continued driving and acquired images just before and after completing the drive with the navigation and panoramic cameras. Plans for the following day called for Opportunity to take spot images of the sky and make the usual measurements of atmospheric dust. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Spirit Begins Driving Uphill
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 11, 2008With the Sun moving higher in the sky, Spirit's solar panels must move in the same direction to maximize their exposure to sunlight. To achieve optimal solar input, the panels still must tilt to the north, but not as steeply as before. |
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