Opportunity in good health and continues to drive, despite lack of downlink; Spirit remains silent at Troy

Due to Odyssey's safing event none of the planned Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) downlink passes for this period occurred.

All available X-band passes (which are normally uplink only) were changed to two-way, but supportable downlink data rates for these passes are low, and only basic engineering telemetry was received. However, this was enough data to determine that the rover continued to be in good health.

As a result of the lack of downlink data, very little in the way of activity was performed on the rover. A drive that had been designed based on Sol 2300 (July 14, 2010) data was uplinked and executed on Sol 2301 (July 15, 2010), and the telemetry available indicates that this drive ran nominally.

Insufficient data is available to update power numbers, but as of Sol 2300 (July 14, 2010), solar array energy production had improved to 492 watt-hours, atmospheric opacity (Tau) was 0.223 and the solar array dust factor was 0.700.

Total odometry as of Sol 2307 (July 21, 2010), is estimated at approximately 21,830 meters (21.83 kilometers, or 13.56 miles).

Spirit remains silent at Troy

Spirit remains silent at her location called "Troy" on the west side of Home Plate. No communication has been received from the rover since Sol 2210 (March 22, 2010).

It is likely that Spirit has experienced a low-power fault and has turned off all sub-systems, including communication and gone into a deep sleep. While sleeping, the rover will use the available solar array energy to recharge her batteries. When the batteries recover to a sufficient state of charge, Spirit will wake-up and begin to communicate.

There is the additional risk that the rover may trip a mission clock fault. If that happens, the rover would remain asleep until the batteries have recharged sufficiently, and there is enough sunlight on the solar arrays to wake the rover. With the southern winter solstice back on May 13, 2010, solar energy levels and temperatures are expected to be improving.

Total odometry is unchanged at 7,730.50 meters (4.80 miles).

 

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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