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by Staff Writers Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 06, 2012
Opportunity is positioned for winter on the north end of "Cape York" on the rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover is tilted about 15 degrees to the north for favorable solar energy production. Opportunity is in position to conduct contact science investigations of surface targets reachable by the instruments on the robotic arm. On Sol 2819 (Dec. 29, 2011), the robotic arm was used to collect a set of Microscopic Imager mosaics of a target called "Amboy." This was followed by the placement of the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer for a multi-sol integration. On Sol 2822 (Jan. 1, 2012), the rover's robotic arm placed the Moessbauer Spectrometer on the target Amboy for an extended integration. Sol 2822 also saw the first of a planned series of special X-band passes to support a radio Doppler tracking experiment to measure the precession and nutation of the planet. Those first data have been assessed as good quality. The plan ahead is for continued Moessbauer integration on Amboy and more radio Doppler tracking. As of Sol 2824 (Jan. 3, 2012), solar array energy production was 287 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.735 and a solar array dust factor of 0.481. Total odometry as of Sol 2823 (Jan. 2, 2012) is 21.35 miles (34,361.37 meters).
Mars Rovers at JPL Mars Rovers at Cornell Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
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