[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: June 4-7, 2015

[Ron Baalke]

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

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  For Next Three Weeks, Rover in Quiet Period of
Operations  - sols 4039-4042, June 04, 2015-June 07, 2015:

Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater at the 'Spirit of St.
Louis' crater near the entrance of 'Marathon Valley.' The rover is now
in the Solar Conjunction command moratorium.

Solar conjunction is when the Sun comes between Earth and Mars, which
occurs about once every 26 months. During this time there will be
diminished communications to Opportunity. More on solar conjunction here:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1824

Opportunity will be executing a basic set of activities for the
remainder of the solar conjunction period, including some Alpha Particle
X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) measurements of a surface target.

As of the last returned telemetry on Sol 4042 (June 7, 2015), the solar
array energy production was 490 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity
(Tau) of 0.768 and a solar array dust factor of 0.643.

Total odometry is 26.33 miles (42.37 kilometers), more than a marathon.