[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: January 04-11, 2012

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:42:57 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201201130142.q0D1gvFG017704_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html#opportunity

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Studying Rock Target 'Amboy' -
sols 2825-2832, January 04-11, 2012:

Opportunity is positioned for winter on the north end of "Cape York" on
the rim of Endeavour Crater.

The rover is tilted about 15 degrees to the north for favorable solar
energy production. Opportunity is conducting in-situ (contact) science
investigations of the rock target, "Amboy." The M?ssbauer spectrometer
has been in place for several sols on Amboy. On Sol 2829 (Jan. 8, 2012),
the Microscopic Imager was used to make additional surveys of the target
with the M?ssbauer being placed again on the same point. After some
image assessments, the robotic arm was used on Sol 2831 (Jan. 10, 2012),
to slightly reposition the M?ssbauer.

Ongoing with the long M?ssbauer integrations, Opportunity has been
conducting regular radio Doppler X-band tracking passes in support of an
experiment to measure the precession and nutation of the planet.
Opportunity has also been collecting color Panoramic Camera (Pancam)
images of the full 360-degree "Greeley" panorama from this site. The
plan ahead is more M?ssbauer, more Pancam and more radio Doppler tracking.

As of Sol 2832 (Jan. 11, 2012), solar array energy production was 281
watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.697 and a solar array
dust factor of 0.471.

Total odometry is 21.35 miles (34,361.37 meters).
Received on Thu 12 Jan 2012 08:42:57 PM PST