Opportunity is continuing her winter exploration of "Perseverance Valley" on the west rim of Endeavour Crater.
Although winter conditions are constraining activity, rover energy production has improved slightly, and more of the earlier relay passes from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are helping, as well.
Opportunity has been able to avoid having to dedicate any sols to battery recharging.
The rover spent seven consecutive sols, Sols 4876 to 4882 (Oct. 11 to Oct. 17, 2017), collecting Panoramic Camera (Pancam) panoramas of the subject, called "La Bajada," totaling over 40 color stereo image pairs.
Also, on Sol 4876 (Oct. 11, 2017), Opportunity was able to support an evening atmospheric argon measurement with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS).
As of Sol 4882 (Oct. 17, 2017), the solar array energy production was 358 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.506 and an improved solar array dust factor of 0.558.
Total odometry is 27.98 miles (45.04 kilometers).
Recent drive improves energy levels of Opportunity rover on Mars
Opportunity is continuing her winter exploration of "Perseverance Valley" on the west rim of Endeavour Crater.
The cold, low-light winter conditions continue to constrain activity, although with a recent drive, energy levels have improved slightly. Sol 4873 (Oct. 8, 2017), was a recharge sol and sol 4872 (Oct. 7, 2017), had little activity.
Opportunity drove on Sol 4874 (Oct. 9, 2017 … read more