[meteorite-list] Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity Update: March 15-21, 2012

[Ron Baalke]

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Slight Drop of Left-front Wheel - 
sols 2894-2900, March 15-21, 2012:

Opportunity remains positioned on the north end of Cape York on the rim
of Endeavour Crater with an approximately 15-degree northerly tilt for
favorable solar energy production.

Radio Doppler tracking passes for the geo-dynamic investigation were
performed on sols 2895, 2897 and 2899 (March 16, 18 and 20, 2012). The
Microscopic Imager (MI) collected images on sols 2894 and 2899 (March 15
and 20, 2012) as part of a large mosaic. On Sol 2894, the Alpha Particle
X-ray Spectrometer was placed on target "Amboy3" for a multi-sol
integration.

On Sol 2899, the robotic arm (Instrument Deployment Device, or IDD)
experienced a safety stall in preparation for the MI mosaic imaging. The
imaging executed successfully, and the Mossbauer spectrometer was
subsequently placed on the target "Amboy," as planned. Imagery from the
front hazard-avoidance camera showed that the left-front wheel
apparently dropped by a small amount, roughly half an inch (1
centimeter), sometime between Sol 2894 and Sol 2899. The rover is safe,
healthy and stable. There is no indication of risk to Opportunity. But
the small drop in the left-front wheel is curious. The IDD safety stall
may be related. The project is investigating this. Diagnostic activities
have been sequenced for Sol 2901 (March 22, 2012).

As of Sol 2900 (March 21, 2012), solar array energy production was 311
watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.508 and a solar array
dust factor of 0.498.

Total odometry is unchanged at 21.35 miles (34,361.37 meters).