[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update - December 4-9, 2014

[Ron Baalke]

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Flash-Memory Resets Continue  - sols 3862-3867, 
December 04, 2014-December 09, 2014:

Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards 'Marathon 
Valley,' a putative location for abundant clay minerals only about a mile 
(about 1 kilometer) to the south.

Because of the deteriorating performance of the Flash file system, the 
project reformatted the rover's Flash memory on Sol 3862 (Dec. 4, 2014). 
Although the rover's operation improved immediately after the reformat, 
Flash behavior quickly deteriorated. Opportunity experienced a set of 
resets on Sols 3864 and 3865 (Dec. 6 and Dec. 7, 2014). After this, the 
project made the decision to operate the rover without the use of Flash 
memory until another fix can be implemented. On Sol 3866 (Dec. 8, 2014), 
the rover was booted without using Flash (and instead storing data products 
in volatile RAM memory) and all the fault conditions were cleared. On 
Sol 3867 (Dec. 9, 2014), Opportunity performed light science activities 
in preparation for driving on the next sol. Longer term, the project is 
developing a strategy to mask off the troubled sector of Flash and resume 
using the remainder of the Flash file system.

As of Sol 3867 (Dec. 9, 2014), the solar array energy production was 500 
watt-hours, an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 1.215 and a solar array dust 
factor of 0.659.