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MARSDAILY
Waking Up with the Sun's Rays
by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (JPL) May 28, 2012

illustration only

After moving from her winter perch, Opportunity drove to an undisturbed dusty patch to investigate the chemical origin of the ubiquitous Martian dust.

On Sol 2957 (May 19, 2012), the rover used her robotic arm to collect a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic of the surface target, called "North Pole." This was followed by an Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) placement for a multi-sol integration.

On Sol 2960 (May 22, 2012), Opportunity repositioned the robotic arm instruments on an associated target for another set of Microscopic Imager mosaics followed by a placement of the APXS for a long measurement.

The plan ahead is to resume driving toward the north end of Cape York in search of more gypsum veins. The rover benefited from another small dust cleaning event, improving solar array energy production.

With the seasonally improving solar insolation and the recent dust clearing events, the rover is now experiencing solar array wake-ups, the autonomous rover wake-ups induced by bright morning sunlight.

As of Sol 2961 (May 23, 2012), solar array energy production was 395 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.387 and an improved solar array dust factor of 0.559.

Total odometry is 21.36 miles (34,380.58 meters).

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




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MARSDAILY
Opportunity Drives to Dusty Patch of Soil
Pasadena CA (JPL) May 25, 2012
The rover drove on Sols 2949, 2951, 2953 and 2955 (May 10, 12, 14 and 17, 2012), totaling just over 46 feet (13.9 meters). The rover is positioning to reach a pristine patch of dust on the surface. The plan ahead is to use the robotic arm instruments to investigate the patch of dust. Dust covers much of Mars and this patch is an opportunity to perhaps determine the origin of the dust from its ch ... read more


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