Spirit: More than 2,000 sols; Opportunity: More targets at 'Block Island'

Spirit has passed 2,000 sols on the surface of Mars, yet another milestone. Starting its third sol millennia, Spirit continues to profile the geology at the location where the rover is embedded, a site called "Troy" on the west side of "Home Plate."

On Sol 1995 (Aug. 13, 2009), Spirit continued the campaign of grinding deeper into surface targets, then collecting in situ (contact) measurements at each grind depth.

The rock abrasion tool (RAT) executed a grind on the target "Polyphemus_Eye_2." Then the panoramic camera (Pancam) and the microscopic imager (MI) took images of where the grind had been performed, and the robotic arm placed the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) on the freshly-ground target. On the next sol, the rover changed tools to the Mössbauer (MB) spectrometer and placed it on the target for an overnight integration. The rover continued on the next sol with an MI mosaic of a different target, "Olive_Leaf," followed by an APXS placement on that target. On the following sol, the MB was placed on target Polyphemus for a multi-sol integration.

On Earth, the surface system testbed (SSTB) rover extraction testing continues in preparation for the first extraction moves on Mars.

Atmospheric conditions over Spirit have deteriorated owing to a regional dust storm. As of Sol 2001 (Aug. 19, 2009), the rover solar-array energy production was down to 744 watt-hours with atmospheric opacity (tau) increasing to 0.718 and the dust factor remaining around 0.8315. Spirit's total odometry remained at 7,729.93 meters (4.80 miles).

Opportunity is continuing its in-situ (contact) investigation of the 70-centimeter (28-inch) meteorite called "Block Island."

On Sol 1974 (Aug. 13, 2009), robotic arm (IDD) work on ground in front of the meteorite completed with a microscopic imager (MI) mosaic of pebbles called "Vail Beach" at the foot of Block Island.

On the next sol, Opportunity bumped closer to Block Island by about 40 centimeters (16 inches). This puts other meteorite surface targets within reach of the rover's robotic arm. On Sol 1976 (Aug. 15, 2009), the MI collected a mosaic of the target "Purple Patch," then placed the Mössbauer (MB) spectrometer for a long integration. On Sol 1979 (Aug. 18, 2009), the MI collected mosaics of a different target and then the arm positioned the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS).

The shroud of the miniature thermal emission spectrometer (Mini-TES) continues to be left open on scheduled sols to allow the environment to clean putative dust contamination from the elevation mirror. No improvement in Mini-TES performance has been observed so far, but the rover has seen no wind events.

As of Sols 1979 and 1980 (Aug. 18 and 19, 2009), Opportunity's solar-array energy production was 467 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (tau) of 0.457 and a dust factor of 0.552. The rover's cumulative odometry on Sol 1980 was 17,229.16 meters (10.71 miles).

 

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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