Opportunity back to normal operations

Opportunity's activities were impacted by the Odyssey spacecraft safe-mode event. However, with the recovery of Odyssey, normal operations with the rover have resumed.

Direct-to-Earth (DTE) X-band communications and some Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter relay passes were used by Opportunity, while Odyssey was unavailable to support data relay.

On Sol 2309 (July 23, 2010), Opportunity collected remote sensing images along with an atmospheric argon measurement with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS). On Sol 2311 (July 25, 2010), driving resumed with a 20-meter (66 feet) east/southeast backward drive, followed by an 8-meter (26 feet) test of backwards-driving hazard avoidance. The hazard avoidance test was successful and supports the use of hazard avoidance for backward driving on longer drives.

As of Sol 2313 (July 27, 2010), solar array energy production has improved to 533 watt-hours, atmospheric opacity (Tau) was re-calibrated and now reports a higher value of 0.558 with the solar array dust factor of 0.795.

Total odometry is 21,860.62 meters (21.86 kilometers, or 13.58 miles).

Spirit Awaits "Solar Groovy"

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, trying to recharge her batteries. There is the additional risk that the rover may trip a mission clock fault. If that happens, the rover would lose track of time and remain asleep until there is enough sunlight on the solar arrays to wake the rover, a state called "Solar Groovy." When the rover wakes from a mission clock fault, she would only listen.

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

 

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
	More on • Spirit • Opportunity • Mars Exploration Rovers • Mars