Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Mars Exploration News .




MARSDAILY
Opportunity's Heading to a Small Crater Called 'Ulysses'
by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 29, 2014


File image.

Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards "Marathon Valley," a putative location for abundant clay minerals. The rover is headed to a near-term target, a small crater named "Ulysses."

The rover is moving closer to Ulysses to get a peek inside. On Sol 3787 (Sept. 18, 2014), Opportunity drove a little over 44 feet (13.5 meters) in rocky terrain, requiring the use of Visual Odometry to safely navigate.

On Sol 3789 (Sept. 20, 2014), the rover moved closer to the rim of Ulysses, but the drive stopped after 15 feet (4.6 meters) because Visual Odometry was not tracking on the last steps.

An evening Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer measurement of atmospheric argon was performed on Sol 3790 (Sept. 21, 2014). The rover continued closer to Ulysses on the next sol with a 13-feet (4-meter) bump. High slip prevented the rover from completing the turn for communication at the end of the drive.

Recently, there were more Flash-related events. Two more "amnesia" events occurred on the evenings of Sols 3786 and 3789 (Sept. 17 and Sept. 20, 2014). And two Flash write errors to Bank 7 occurred on Sols 3791 and 3792 (Sept. 22 and Sept. 23, 2014).

All these events were benign and did not impact the rover's operation. The project continues to investigate. Otherwise, Opportunity continues in good health.

As of Sol 3792 (Sept. 23, 2014), the solar array energy production was 639 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.889 and a solar array dust factor of 0.740.

Total odometry is 25.34 (40.77 kilometers).

.


Related Links
Mars Exploration Rovers
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








MARSDAILY
Back to Driving
Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 24, 2014
Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards 'Marathon Valley,' a putative location for abundant clay minerals. The rover is headed to a near-term target, a small crater named 'Ulysses.' On Sol 3780 (Sept. 11, 2014), Opportunity drove a little over 33 feet (10 meters) in rocky terrain, requiring the use of Visual Odometry to safely navigate the rock hazards. On ... read more


MARSDAILY
Turning the Moon into a cosmic ray detector

Russia to Launch Full-Scale Moon Exploration Next Decade

Lunar explorers will walk at higher speeds than thought

Year's final supermoon is a Harvest Moon

MARSDAILY
China Successfully Orbits Experimental Satellite

China's first space lab in operation for over 1000 days

China Exclusive: Mars: China's next goal?

Astronauts eye China's future space station

MARSDAILY
Cold Atom Laboratory Chills Atoms to New Lows

NASA Expands Commercial Space Program

Yelena Serova becomes first Russian woman aboard space station

Crew including first woman cosmonaut in 17 years blasts off for ISS

MARSDAILY
Dawn reaches its seventh anniversary

One Last Slumber

Democracy has spoken, Pluto should be a planet

Miranda: An Icy Moon Deformed by Tidal Heating

MARSDAILY
Cassini Watches Mysterious Feature Evolve in Titan Sea

Bright Clumps in Saturn Ring Now Mysteriously Scarce

Dot Against the Dark

Titan's subsurface reservoirs modify methane rainfall

MARSDAILY
NASA Support Key to Glacier Mapping Efforts

China to improve earth observation service

New Forest Land Classification Data Set Launched

NASA Ocean Data Shows 'Climate Dance' of Plankton

MARSDAILY
Waypoint 2 Space Partners with Final Frontier Training Suits

Chinese Company to Create High-Altitude Space Balloon: Reports

Crew selected for eight-month Mars simulation

Galactic getaway

MARSDAILY
New milestone in the search for water on distant planets

Clear skies on exo-Neptune

Distant planet's atmosphere shows evidence of water vapor

Chandra Finds Planet That Makes Star Act Deceptively Old




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.