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Opportunity Gearing Up For Attempt To Move Robotic Arm
Pasadena CA (JPL) May 14, 2008 After completing a battery of diagnostic tests, engineers planned to attempt to move Opportunity's shoulder azimuth joint, also known as Joint 1, during the coming week. Tests during the past week included electrical resistance tests at the warmest and coldest times of day to determine if a persistent stall in the joint was dependent on temperature. Test results indicated that electrical resistance in the shoulder motor at the warmest time of day approached normal levels. A series of mild dust-cleaning events gave power levels a slight boost. The dust factor - a measure of the amount of sunlight actually penetrating dust on the solar panels - was about 73 percent. As recently as Martian day, or sol, 1486 (March 29, 2008), the dust factor was only 69 percent. Average solar-array energy during the past week was nearly 385 watt-hours, almost enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours. Opportunity conducted a variety of remote-sensing activities, including photometric observations at varying times of day, soil observations, horizon surveys, imaging of a cobble known as "Jin" and wheel trenches informally named "Harland" and "Williams," atmospheric observations, and measurements of argon gas in the Martian atmosphere. Opportunity is healthy and all subsystems are operating as expected, with the exception of the robotic arm. Sol-by-sol summary: In addition to receiving morning instructions directly from Earth via the rover's high-gain antenna, relaying data back to Earth via the UHF antenna on the Mars Odyssey orbiter, and measuring atmospheric dust with the panoramic camera, Opportunity completed the following activities: Sol 1518 (May 1, 2008): Opportunity acquired a six-frame movie of navigation-camera images in search of clouds. After sending data to Odyssey, the rover went into a deep sleep. Sol 1519: Opportunity acquired color images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of Jin, a cobble upslope near one edge of the "Lyell" outcrop. The rover went into a mini-deep sleep. Sol 1520: The rover scanned the sky for clouds by acquiring six, time-lapse movie frames with the navigation camera. Later, Opportunity acquired another six-frame, time-lapse movie of potential clouds passing overhead. After communicating with Odyssey, Opportunity measured atmospheric dust at sunset with the panoramic camera and measured atmospheric argon with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer. Sol 1521: Opportunity acquired a mosaic of images with the panoramic camera, took six movie frames in search of clouds with the navigation camera, surveyed the early-morning sky with the panoramic camera, and monitored dust accumulation on the rover mast. Opportunity took color images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of Harland, followed by a mosaic of images. Sol 1522: In addition to assessing atmospheric dust at different times of day, Opportunity produced a six-frame movie in search of clouds with the navigation camera. Sol 1523: In the morning, Opportunity took color images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of Williams and the surrounding soil. Opportunity ran tests of the shoulder joint at cold and warm temperatures. Using the navigation camera, the rover created a time-lapse movie in search of clouds and took images of the sky, known as "sky flats," for calibration purposes. Sol 1524 (May 7, 2008): Opportunity surveyed the sky at low sun. The rover measured atmospheric argon with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer and took thumbnail images of the sky for calibration purposes with the panoramic camera. Opportunity created a movie in search of clouds with the navigation camera. Odometry: As of sol 1524 (May 7, 2008), Opportunity's total odometry remained at 11,689.53 meters (about 7 and one-quarter miles). Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Testing Times For Robotic Explorers On Mars
Moffett Field (SPX) May 09, 2008Many space missions use robots to explore. The rovers Spirit and Opportunity are still travelling around Mars, taking pictures and digging in the dirt. But could a robot identify alien life? How would a machine know the difference, for instance, between a rock and bacteria? |
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