[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: August 6-12, 2014

[Ron Baalke]

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Ground Control Restored Quickly After Reset - sols 
3745-3751, August 06, 2014-August 12, 2014:

Opportunity is moving south along the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading 
towards "Marathon Valley," a putative location for abundant clay minerals.

On Sol 3746 (Aug. 7, 2014), the rover began with a Phobos moon transit 
observation, then a 236-foot (72-meter) drive south towards a formation, 
called "Wdowiak Ridge." On the evening of that sol, Opportunity experienced 
a Flash-induced reset that stopped all sequences, but otherwise left the 
rover in good health.

At the start of the next plan, the project commanded a real-time activate 
for Opportunity to restore sequence control and to execute the next plan, 
a 2-sol "touch 'n go." On Sol 3748 (Aug. 9, 2014), Opportunity used the 
robotic arm to collect a Microscopic Imager mosaic of a target of opportunity 
called "Icy Straight." This was followed by the placement of the Alpha 
Particle X-ray Spectrometer on the same surface target for a multi-hour 
integration ("the touch"). Then, on Sol 3749 (Aug. 10, 2014), the rover 
drove over 328 feet (100 meters) ("the go"), including some mid-drive 
imaging. Keeping up the pace, the rover continued driving south towards 
Wdowiak Ridge on the next two sols with drives of 183 feet and 108 feet 
(56 meters and 33 meters), respectively.

As of Sol 3751 (Aug. 12, 2014), the solar array energy production was 
679 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.811 and a solar 
array dust factor of 0.789.

Total odometry is 25.25 (40.63 kilometers).