[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: July 11-18, 2012

[Ron Baalke]

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Slow-Going for Opportunity This Week - sols
3009-3016, July 11-18, 2012:

Opportunity is roving at the north end of Cape York on the rim of
Endeavour Crater. However, her progress has been impacted by the recent
safe mode entry by the relay orbiter, Mars Odyssey.

On Sol 3010 (July 12, 2012), Opportunity drove just over 180 feet (55
meters) south towards a small impact crater, named "Sao Gabriel," for
investigation. On Sol 3011 (July 13, 2012), the rover's Alpha Particle
X-ray Spectrometer collected a measurement of atmospheric argon. But
subsequent to the Sol 3010 (July 12, 2012), drive, Odyssey went into
safe mode. In response to the absence of relay support from the orbiter,
several rover X-band sessions with the Deep Space Network were converted
to Direct-to-Earth passes to receive a small amount of telemetry to
assess the health of the rover. Until the return of relay support from
Odyssey, the plans for Opportunity were kept simple with a modest
photometry campaign, daily observations of atmospheric opacity (tau) and
other low-data volume remote sensing.

The Mars Color Imager on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been
observing a local Martian dust storm near Endeavour Crater. The local
storm has elevated the atmospheric opacity over the rover site. Water
ice cloud cover seen around the rover site is both an indication that
the dust storm had abated but there were still elevated levels of
atmospheric dust in the region as a result of the storm. (water-ice is
nucleating on the suspended dust particles.)

>From Sol 3010 (July 12, 2012), the solar array energy production was 523
watt-hours with a solar array dust factor of 0.707. As of Sol 3016 (July
18, 2012), the atmospheric opacity (Tau) is elevated at 0.571.

Total odometry is 21.49 miles (34,580.05 meters).