[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update - November 4-9, 2015

[Ron Baalke]

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Dips Back Into Flash - sols 4188-4193, 
November 04, 2015-November 09, 2015

Opportunity is within 'Marathon Valley' on the west rim of Endeavour Crater.

The rover has been switched to using Flash again. The plan for this week 
is to return some high-value science data products stored in Flash memory. 
On Sol 4188 (Nov. 4, 2015), an atmospheric argon measurement was collected 
using the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer. On Sol 4189 (Nov. 5, 2015), 
a problem with the Deep Space Network station transmitter prevented our 
sequence plan from being sent to the rover. Independently on that sol, 
Opportunity experienced a reset, not unexpected since Flash memory was 
enabled. New sequences and a recovery plan were sent to the rover on Sol 
4190 (Nov. 6, 2015). But a timing error prevented the master sequence 
from starting. A team came in over the weekend and built a real-time sequence 
activation command that was sent on Sol 4191 (Nov. 7, 2015), restoring 
the rover to master sequence operation.

As of Sol 4193 (Nov. 9, 2015), the solar array energy production was 359 
watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.511 and a solar array 
dust factor of 0.609.

Total odometry is 26.48 miles (42.62 kilometers), more than a marathon.