[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: December 28, 2011 - January 3, 2012

[Ron Baalke]

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Positioned at Candidate Site for Winter - 
sols 2818-2824, December 28, 2011 - January 3, 2012:

Opportunity is positioned for winter on the north end of "Cape York" on
the rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover is tilted about 15 degrees to the
north for favorable solar energy production. Opportunity is in position
to conduct contact science investigations of surface targets reachable
by the instruments on the robotic arm.

On Sol 2819 (Dec. 29, 2011), the robotic arm was used to collect a set
of Microscopic Imager mosaics of a target called "Amboy." This was
followed by the placement of the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer for a
multi-sol integration. On Sol 2822 (Jan. 1, 2012), the rover's robotic
arm placed the Mössbauer Spectrometer on the target Amboy for an
extended integration.

Sol 2822 also saw the first of a planned series of special X-band passes
to support a radio Doppler tracking experiment to measure the precession
and nutation of the planet. Those first data have been assessed as good
quality. The plan ahead is for continued Mössbauer integration on Amboy
and more radio Doppler tracking.

As of Sol 2824 (Jan. 3, 2012), solar array energy production was 287
watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.735 and a solar array
dust factor of 0.481. Total odometry as of Sol 2823 (Jan. 2, 2012) is
21.35 miles (34,361.37 meters).