Opportunity keeps on driving to Endeavour crater; Spirit still not talking back

Opportunity again drove five times in the past week, adding more to the total rover odometry as she makes her way to Endeavour crater.

The rover drove on Sols 2329, 2330, 2333, 2334 and 2335 (Aug. 12, 13, 16, 17 and 18), totaling over 330 meters (1,083 feet). The rover has been driving with long (about 70 meter, or 230 foot) commanded drives followed by short drive segments of autonomous navigation (AutoNav) to extend the drive distance each sol.

A diagnostic test was conducted on the miniature thermal emission spectrometer (Mini-TES) instrument on Sol 2332 (Aug. 15, 2010). The instrument exhibited the same anomalous behavior as back on Sol 2257 (May 30, 2010). The project and instrument team are continuing to investigate.

As of Sol 2334 (Aug. 17, 2010), solar array energy production was 581 watt-hours with atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.484 and the solar array dust factor of 0.749.

Total odometry is 22,640.31 meters (22.64 kilometers, or 14.07 miles).

Spirit still not talking back

Spirit remains silent at her location 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. To respond to either case, the project is both listening for Spirit with the Deep Space Network and Mars Odyssey orbiter for autonomous recovery communication from the low-power fault case, and conducting a "Sweep & Beep" strategy to stimulate the rover in the case of a mission clock fault.

Although power levels are estimated to be improving with the advancing springtime in the southern hemisphere of Mars, atmospheric conditions historically deteriorate (higher atmospheric opacity) at this time. So a response from Spirit is still not expected for some time.

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

 

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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