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Opportunity Heads Toward 'Block Island' Cobble
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 24, 2009 Opportunity had been driving to the west to go around a large field of impassable dunes on her long way to Endeavour crater. On Sol 1947 (July 16, 2009), the rover drove a little over 70 meters (230 feet) to the west, slightly north. On the next sol, the rover performed a Mars quake experiment, reading the inertial measurement unit (IMU) accelerometers while stationary. Another westward drive was accomplished on Sol 1950 (July 19, 2009), achieving almost 61 meters (200 feet). A dark, meter-scale cobble on the surface was observed some 200 meters (some 650 feet) away to the east. This cobble, informally named "Block Island," is unusual in its size. So the rover began to backtrack to the east on Sol 1952 (July 21, 2009) with a 23-meter (75-foot) drive toward the giant cobble. With that drive, Opportunity passed 17 kilometers (10.56 miles) of total odometry. The shroud of the miniature thermal emission spectrometer (Mini-TES) continues to be left open on scheduled sols to allow the environment to clean putative dust contamination from the elevation mirror. No improvement in Mini-TES performance has been observed so far, but the rover has seen no wind events. As of Sol 1952 (July 21, 2009), Opportunity's solar array energy production was 493 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (tau) of 0.462 and a dust factor of 0.559. Total odometry as of Sol 1953 (July 22, 2009): 17,005.73 meters (10.57 miles). Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Opportunity On the Move AgainPasadena CA (SPX) Jul 23, 2009 Opportunity began the week positioned over exposed outcrop collecting in-situ (contact) science data and resting the right-front wheel's actuator. On Sol 1942 (July 11, 2009), Opportunity began moving again with a 67-meter (220-foot) drive. The right-front wheel motor current showed some improvement from the actuator resting and extra mobility heating. The rover performed another lon ... read more |
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