[meteorite-list] Mars Exploration Rover Update - May 13-14, 2005

[Ron Baalke]

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html

sol 456-463, May 13, 2005: Opportunity Mission Manager Report

Opportunity has started moving its wheels again after a couple 
weeks of holding still while taking some amazing images. While 
waiting for the rover team to finish tests for planning the 
best strategy for driving out of a sand trap, Opportunity has 
been busy taking a comprehensive color panorama of the area. 
On sol 461 (May 11), Opportunity straightened its wheels. 
After checking data and images confirming the success of 
that move, the team planned commands for beginning to rotate 
the wheels on sol 463 (May 13). The rover is healthy and 
ready to go.

Sol-by-sol details:

Sol 456 - 460:
The rover's situation, dug into a sand dune, limited in the 
amount and type of science possible. While sitting here, 
Opportunity has taken the opportunity to take a 360 panorama 
of the area called "Rub al Khali," a name meaning the "empty 
quarter," from a region of the Arabian Peninsula with that 
name. During sol 456, power engineer Eric Wood happily 
recognized a cleaning event. Winds removed some dust from 
solar panels and Opportunity's daily energy supply increased 
to about 650 watt-hours, from a recent range of about 620 to 
630 watt-hours.

Sol 461:
Today Opportunity was allowed to position its wheels to 
their egress direction. The plan is for the rover to leave 
the sand trap with an arc, moving forward and slightly to 
the left. The wheels were placed in that position. Before 
this sol's steering move, the wheels were in position from 
a turn in place that was Opportunity's last attempted move 
on sol 446.

Sol 462:
Opportunity is still in restricted sols, and is precluded 
from driving today, so the rover spent the day taking some 
additional panoramic camera frames of Rub al Khali.

Sol 463 (May 13):
After confirming the new position of the wheels, the team 
proceeded with plans for Opportunity to rotate its wheels 
about two and a half times on sol 463. Results from that 
move will be evaluated before rotating them some more.

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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Begins Careful Rollout - sol 464, 
May 14, 2005

Opportunity rotated its wheels on sol 463 for the first 
time since the rover dug itself into a sand dune more 
than two weeks earlier. The wheels made about two and a 
half rotations, as commanded, and the results were a good 
match for what was expected from tests on Earth. In the 
loose footing, the rover advanced 2.8 centimeters (1.1 inch)
forward, 4.8 millimeters (0.19 inch) sideways and 4.6 
millimeters (0.18 inch) downward. After further analysis 
of the results, the rover team will decide whether to 
repeat the same careful movement again on sol 465. 
Meanwhile Opportunity's main tasks for sol 464 were 
remote-sensing observations.