 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 09, 2010 It has been a week of driving for Opportunity. She drove on five of the last seven sols and covered over 400 meters (1,312 feet). As the rover makes her way toward Endeavour crater, she is taking a path that passes by a set of small impact craters for some drive-by imaging. On Sols 2403 (Oct. 27, 2010), 2404 (Oct. 28, 2010), and 2405 (Oct. 29, 2010), Opportunity drove 129 meters (423 feet), 44 meters (144 feet) and 89 meters (292 feet), respectively in roughly an East/Southeast direction with some pre- and mid-drive imaging to capture some of the impact craters along the way. Over the weekend, the rover performed an atmospheric argon measurement with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) and used the new autonomous exploration for gathering increased science (AEGIS) software to collect some autonomous science imaging. On Sol 2409 (Nov. 2, 2010), Opportunity resumed driving, covering about 38 meters (125 feet) with some mid- and post-drive imaging. Another drive on Sol 2410 (Nov. 4, 2010), had the rover going more than 100 meters (328 feet) with close drive-bys of more impact craters. On the morning of Sol 2410 (Nov. 4, 2010), the rover woke early to catch an image of the transit of Phobos across the Martian sky with the Panoramic camera (Pancam). As of Sol 2409 (Nov. 2, 2010), solar array energy production was 610 watt-hours with a slightly elevated atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.646 and a solar array dust factor of 0.678. Total odometry is 24,813.42 meters (24.81 kilometers, or 15.42 miles).
Spirit Remains Silent at Troy The project continues to listen for Spirit with the Deep Space Network and the Mars Odyssey orbiter for autonomous recovery communication from the low-power fault case. The project is also conducting a paging technique called "sweep and beep" to stimulate the rover in the case of a mission-clock fault. Improving solar insolation levels should provide an environment for the rover batteries to recharge with increasing likelihood of hearing from Spirit in the period ahead. Total odometry is unchanged at 7,730.50 meters (4.80 miles).
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Mars Rovers at JPL Mars Rovers at Cornell Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
Mars Rovers Mission Using Cloud ComputingPasadena CA (JPL) Nov 03, 2010 The project team that built and operates the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity has become the first NASA space mission to use cloud computing for daily mission operations. Cloud computing is a way to gain fast flexibility in computing ability by ordering capacity on demand - as if from the clouds - and paying only for what is used. NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project moved to this strat ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook
