Opportunity studies interesting rocks

Opportunity finished her campaign to examine an exposed outcrop of rock that was of interest to the science team.

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).

On Sol 2342 (Aug. 26, 2010), the rover's robotic arm (Instrument Deployment Device, IDD) collected a single microscopic imager (MI) image of the target, "Laya Beach" and a MI mosaic of the target, "Cervera Shoal." On the next sol, the moessbauer (MB) spectrometer was placed on the Cervera Shoal for a multi-sol integration. However, an anomaly was observed with the moessbauer spectrometer. The lead scientist for the spectrometer reported that the instrument voice coil did not indicate motion, although the moessbauer detectors appeared functioning. The project has opened an incident, surprise, anomaly (ISA) report and is investigating.

Opportunity has since resumed driving. On Sol 2347 (Aug. 31, 2010), the rover made almost 89 meters (292 feet) of progress. On the next sol, Opportunity covered only about 40 meters (131 feet) because of the limited driving time due to a late communication handover.

As of Sol 2348 (Sept. 1, 2010), solar array energy production was 579 watt-hours with atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.461 and the solar array dust factor of 0.729.

Total odometry is 22,776.94 meters (22.78 kilometers, or 14.15 miles).

Spirit remains silent at Troy

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. The rover internal electronics will experience colder temperatures than pervious winters, because heaters will be shut off. There is the additional risk that the rover may trip a mission clock fault. The project is 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. Thus, 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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