Mars rover Opportunity takes a drive up a steep slope by Staff Writers Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 23, 2017
Opportunity is located on the rim of Endeavour Crater, heading south along the rim. The rover is trying to make progress towards the next major scientific objective, the gully about a kilometer south of the current location. However, the local terrain has been a challenge with steep slopes (over 20 degrees) and terrain that breaks down into loose material under the driving shear forces of the rover's wheels. On Sol 4611 (Jan. 12, 2017), Opportunity attempted to drive up a steep slope, but flight software stopped the drive after just 4 feet (1.25 meters) when it sensed that the wheels were drawing too much current, a possible indicator of embedding. Drive imagery showed the surface material crumbling and causing the wheels to slip. That drive was part of a three-sol plan that included a late-night MAVEN Ultra High Frequency (UHF) relay pass. Because the MAVEN pass required the rover to stay up near midnight, a nighttime Demos moon observation was successfully captured and returned over the MAVEN pass. On the next sol, no relay data were returned from the rover because the Odyssey orbiter's low-elevation flight pass was occulted by the elevated horizon. To get Opportunity going again, the rover was commanded on Sol 4614 (Jan. 15, 2017), to back down about half a meter then turn left and travel more cross slope to exposed rock outcrop. This was successful with the rover completing all 48 feet (14.67 meters) of the commanded drive with little slip. An atmospheric argon measurement by the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) was also performed on the same sol after the drive. As is the case after each move, Opportunity collects extensive imagery to support both driving and science. As of Sol 4615 (Jan. 16, 2017), the solar array energy production was 500 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.657 and a solar array dust factor of 0.670. Total odometry is 27.21 miles (43.79 kilometers).
Related Links Opportunity Status Report Archive at JPL Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
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