Opportunity Progresses South
Pasadena 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 (98 feet) of driving before the time ran out. Activities were very time-constrained on that sol. Motor currents in the right-front wheel continue to be elevated. Limiting the drive distance and employing regular, short, backward slip checks seems to mitigate further increases in right-front wheel current. As of Sol 1905 (June 3, 2009), Opportunity's solar array energy production is 413 watt-hours. Atmospheric opacity (tau) is 0.559. The dust factor is 0.542, meaning that 54.2 percent of sunlight hitting the solar array penetrates the layer of accumulated dust on the array. Opportunity's total odometry is 16,424.22 meters (10.2 miles). Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Spirit Examines Its Underbelly Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 12, 2009 Although Spirit has yet to begin to extricate herself from the loose, soft terrain on the west side of Home Plate, the rover has been active using her instruments to assess her embedded state. This week the robotic arm (Instrument Deployment Device, IDD) with the Microscopic Imager (MI) were used to take a mosaic of images of the rover's underbelly. The MI, a short focus camera, was ... read more |
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