[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: November 7-11, 2014

[Ron Baalke]

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Several Drives Push Opportunity Over 41-Kilometer Mark! - 
sols 3835-3839, November 7, 2014-November 11, 2014:

Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards "Marathon 
Valley," a putative location for abundant clay minerals about a mile (1.4 
kilometers) to the south.

The rover has begun to pick up the pace. Sol 3836 (Nov. 8, 2014), was 
the first sol of a 2-sol "Touch 'n Go" using the robotic arm to gather 
information of a target of opportunity within the arm work volume from 
the last drive.

Opportunity collected a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic of the surface 
soil target, called "Rock Creek," then placed the Alpha Particle X-ray 
Spectrometer (APXS) on the same for a multi-hour integration. On the next 
sol, the rover drove about 226 feet (69 meters) to the south, passing 
25.48 miles (41 kilometers) of odometry.

On Sol 3839 (Nov. 11, 2014), Opportunity continued the fast-pace push 
to the south with over 371 feet (113 meters) of driving. The first portion 
was driven blind with the final part using guarded (autonomous) motion. 
Both drives involved collecting pre-drive targeted imaging and post-drive 
panoramas. An atmospheric argon measurement with the APXS was performed 
on Sol 3835 (Nov. 7, 2014). The rover is in good health.

As of Sol 3839 (Nov. 11, 2014), the solar array energy production was 
516 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 1.474 and a solar 
array dust factor of 0.713.

Total odometry is 25.56 miles (41.14 kilometers).