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Opportunity Has Elevated Wheel Current Again
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 18, 2009 Opportunity continues to drive south on the way to Endeavour crater. On Sol 1906 (June 4, 2009), the rover completed a 69-meter (266-foot) drive due south. Elevated actuator currents with the right-front wheel continue to cause concern. The rover rested for four sols before driving again, conducting observations with the panoramic camera (Pancam) and atmospheric argon measurements with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS). On Sol 1910 (June 8, 2009), the planned drive stopped early because a multi-wheel current limit threshold was exceeded. A diagnostic maneuver on the next sol was successful indicating the cause on the previous sol was due to the elevated right-front wheel motor currents. A long, backward drive was performed on Sol 1912 (June 10, 2009). Driving backwards is one technique to mitigate the elevated wheel currents. However, wheel currents continued to be elevated after that 72-meter (236-foot) drive. Further resting of the rover's actuators is being considered. The plan ahead includes opening the shroud of the miniature thermal emission spectrometer (Mini-TES) to expose the instrument's dust-contaminated elevation mirror to the environment. This is an attempt to allow the wind environment to clean dust off the mirror. As of Sol 1912 (June 10, 2009), Opportunity's solar array energy production is 431 watt-hours. Atmospheric opacity (tau) is 0.589. The dust factor is 0.549, indicating that 54.9 percent of sunlight hitting the solar array penetrates the layer of accumulated dust on the array. Opportunity's total odometry is 16,569.05 meters (10.3 miles). Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Opportunity Progresses SouthPasadena CA (SPX) Jun 12, 2009 Opportunity has been busy driving south. The rover drove four out of the last six sols. The drives have all been blind drives with regular slip checks for progress. On Sols 1900, 1902 and 1904 (May 29, May 31 and June 2, 2009), Opportunity drove 66, 71 and 74 meters, (217, 233 and 243 feet), respectively. On Sol 1905 (June 3, 2009), the rover only accomplished about 30 meters ... read more |
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