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Mars Rover Update Opportunity Captures Panorama At Payson
Pasadena CA (SPX) Mar 11, 2006 NASA mission controllers pronounced Opportunity healthy in their weekly update Saturday and said the rover was making its way south along traverse paths at the Payson outcrop of the crater named Erebus. The rover team calls the traverse paths "half-pipes," after the Olympic event. Last week, Opportunity drove along one half-pipe, collecting high-resolution panoramic images of the outcrop - a process the team calls "scoot and shoot". Controllers directed Opportunity to leave that half-pipe and to drive on to the next one. Depending on how well the rover handles the traverse, it either will continue its scoot-and-shoot outcrop imaging campaign, or start toward Victoria Crater. Sol-by-sol summaries: Sol 751 (March 5): Opportunity drove a short bump, took mid-drive panoramic camera images of the outcrop, then drove about 8 meters (about 26 feet) along the half-pipe. Sol 752: The rover conducted untargeted remote sensing, including atmospheric science and systematic foreground studies with its navigation camera and miniature thermal emission spectrometer. SFS means gathering a set of consistent observations of different objects located directly in front of the rover. Sol 753: Opportunity took pre-drive panoramic camera images of a cobble, then drove 4 meters (13 feet), imaged the outcrop, and drove about 11 another meters (36 feet) out of the first half-pipe toward the next one. It also acquired post-drive imaging. Sol 754: The golf-cart-sized rover conducted SFS with the panoramic camera and the TES. The rover also did some atmospheric science. Sol 755: Opportunity drove about 19 meters (62 feet) to the edge of the half-pipe and acquired post-drive imaging to determine how well it could traverse the terrain. Sol 756 (March 10): The plan for this sol was to conduct atmospheric science, including an attempt to observe clouds. Opportunity's total odometry reading as of sol 753 (March 7) was 6,645.57 meters (4.13 miles). Spirit update: Since backing down from the top of the formation called Home Plate on sol 764 (Feb. 25), Spirit has driven 103 meters (338 feet) southeast toward McCool Hill, named for Columbia astronaut William McCool. Along the way, the rover used its robotic arm to analyze a rock target called Fuzzy Smith, and it conducted remote scientific studies of outcrops along the side of Home Plate and on Mitcheltree Ridge. Mission scientists plan to acquire long-baseline stereo images of McCool before driving too close to the hillside. They said the images will provide measurements of surface features necessary for planning the rover's path. During the week, NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft relayed commands from Earth to Spirit via a UHF link, because communications over X-band frequencies had been allocated for use by the Deep Space Network to track the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter during its approach to the red planet. Now that the MRO has safely entered orbit, Spirit will resume operations via X-band uplinks. Sol-by-sol summaries: Sol 771 (March 4): Spirit completed an analysis of targets dubbed Rube Foster and Willie Wells, using the M�ssbauer spectrometer and 13 filters on the panoramic camera. During the afternoon Odyssey pass, Spirit collected data with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. Spirit then began a study of a rock target called Fuzzy Smith with the M�ssbauer spectrometer. Sol 772: Spirit stowed the robotic arm and took panoramic camera images of Fuzzy Smith, then drove 27 meters (89 feet) southeast across Home Plate. After the drive, Spirit conducted opacity observations of afternoon dust and measurements of the sky and ground using its miniature thermal emission spectrometer. Sol 773: After waking, Spirit continued atmospheric studies by taking thumbnail images of the sky with the panoramic camera and images of both the sky and ground with the TES. In the afternoon, Spirit acquired images with both the panoramic and navigation cameras to provide essential data for selecting targets and planning routes. The rover also completed a systematic ground survey and survey of rock clasts using the panoramic camera. Sol 774: Spirit drove off of Home Plate and back into the Dugout - a gulley near the southeast edge of Home Plate. The rover acquired mid-drive images and post-drive images of surrounding terrain, then completed opacity observations and measurements of the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. Sol 775: In the morning, Spirit took thumbnail images of the sky with the panoramic camera and TES measurements of the sky and ground. With the robotic arm still stowed, Spirit spent 30 minutes collecting temperature data using the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer. In the afternoon, Spirit conducted reconnaissance with the TES. Sol 776: Plans for this sol call for Spirit to begin collecting a long-baseline stereo mosaic of images of the hill by taking panoramic camera images from one site, driving 8 meters (26 feet), and then acquiring the part of the second half of the stereo mosaic. Sol 777 (March 11): Plans for this sol include morning atmospheric studies, finishing the long-baseline stereo mosaic, and taking pictures of a target called Bitty Cloud. As of sol 775 (March 9), Spirit's total odometry reading was 6,756 meters (4.2 miles). 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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter In Orbit
Pasadena CA (SPX) Mar 10, 2006NASA controllers confirmed Friday the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had successfully completed its delicate orbital-insertion maneuver and had been nudged by the red planet's gravity into a perfect orbital trajectory. At the end of its 350-million-mile journey - which began last Aug. 12 � controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory received the signal at 5:25 p.m. Eastern Time that the MRO had attained a correct attitude to achieve a proper orbit. |
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