Westbound around risky region; Intermittent problem with antenna brake

Opportunity has been driving, driving, driving. The rover drove three out of the last six sols, making good progress along the path to Endeavour crater.

Each drive was backwards, continuing to head west in order to avoid a large region of potentially risky dune ripples. Eventually, the rover will turn south, then east, to head directly toward Endeavour. On Sols 2015, 2017 and 2020 (Sept. 24, 26 and 29, 2009), the rover drove 70.75 meters (232 feet), 71.85 meters (236 feet) and 70.62 meters (232 feet), respectively. Rover odometry is nearing the 18-kilometer mark.

Motor currents in the right front wheel remain well behaved.

As of Sol 2020 (Sept. 29, 2009), Opportunity's solar-array energy production was 461 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (tau) of 0.677 and a dust factor of 0.599.

Total odometry as of Sol 2020 (Sept. 29, 2009): 17,930.55 meters (11.14 miles).

Spirit had a reoccurrence of the dynamic brake fault with the high-gain antenna (HGA) on Sol 2037 (Sept. 25, 2009) during the attempt to restore normal usage of the HGA. The dynamic brake problem is more frequently intermittent, requiring an alternate approach to resolving the problem. Until the HGA can be restored, the low-gain antenna (LGA) and forward-link commanding through the Mars Odyssey relay will be used.

The low bandwidth over the LGA and the latency with forward-link commanding limits the pace of recovery. The project is implementing a more exhaustive set of diagnostics on the HGA dynamic brake. Those diagnostics should illuminate the nature of the dynamic brake problem and guide the recovery strategy. Despite the HGA problem, Spirit will collect an extended panorama of her underbelly using the microscopic imager (MI) on the end of the robotic arm (IDD) and then place the Mössbauer (MB) spectrometer on a surface target for a long integration. Spirit is otherwise in good health.

As of Sol 2041 (Sept. 29, 2009), Spirit's solar-array energy production is 437 watt-hours. Atmospheric opacity (tau) is 0.727. The dust factor is 0.614, meaning that meaning that about 61.4 percent of the sunlight hitting the solar array is penetrating through the dust on the array. Total odometry remains at 7,729.93 meters (4.80 miles).

 

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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