Opportunity is continuing her winter exploration of Perseverance Valley on the west rim of the Noachian-aged Endeavour Crater.
Before moving to the next waypoint, the team commanded the rover on Sol 4916 (Nov. 21, 2017), to collect a Microscopic Image (MI) mosaic of a surface target, and then place the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) for a multi-sol integration.
While the APXS was integrating, Opportunity continued to collect extensive color panoramas of the surrounding terrain. These image data are part of a complete digital model the rover is assembling of the entire Perseverance Valley.
With the in-situ (contact) science complete using the APXS, the rover drove on Sol 4922 (Nov. 27, 2017) about 46 feet (14 meters) to the next lily pad (energy favorable location) down the valley.
Here Opportunity will continue the extensive image collection and take advantage of any surface targets under her feet.
As of Sol 4923 (Nov. 28, 2017), the solar array energy production was 390 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.416 and a solar array dust factor of 0.619.
Total odometry is 28.00 miles (45,067.60 kilometers).
Opportunity Greets Winter Solstice
Opportunity is continuing her winter exploration of Perseverance Valley on the west rim of the Noachian-aged Endeavour crater.
The winter solstice occurred on Sol 4915 (Nov. 20, 2017). Energy levels for the rover are improving, mostly due to improving dust factor (cleaning of dust off the solar arrays).
The rover is continuing the survey of the surrounding landscape with extensive Pa … read more
