| |
ZL2VAL > ROVERS 07.01.05 12:23l 121 Lines 5539 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : AD0643ZL2VAL
Read: GUEST
Subj: Rovers status, 5th & 6th Jan
Path: DB0FHN<DB0FOR<DB0SIF<DB0EA<DB0RES<DK0WUE<F5GI<F6KMO<EA5DVS<ED1ZAC<
ZL2TZE<ZL2TZE<ZL2AB
Sent: 050107/1004Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:54825 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : ROVERS@WW
*SPIRIT UPDATE:
Spirit Celebrates Year Anniversary on Mars - sol 346-352, January 06, 2005
Spirit landed on Mars one year ago on Jan. 3, 2004, (Pacific Time) and
is still healthy and going strong!
On sol 346, Spirit confirmed that it had dumped a potato-shaped rock
that had been plaguing Spirit's right rear wheel. Confirmation came by
comparison of before and after images from the rear hazard-avoidance
camera. The total distance driven on sol 346 was 0.33 meters (1.08 feet).
On sol 347, Spirit observed selected targets with its panoramic camera
and miniature thermal emission spectrometer.
On sol 348 took pictures of a target called "Dreaming" with the
microscopic imager, and then did a tool change to the alpha particle
X-ray spectrometer. Spirit also made some remote-sensing observations of
targets with holiday theme names.
On sol 349, Spirit did a tool change to the Mössbauer spectrometer and
made more observations.
On sol 350, the plan was to drive Spirit 5 meters (16 feet) towards the
rock named "La Brea." However, the drive achieved less than a meter (3
feet) due to slippage.
On sol 351, Spirit attempted to drive again. This drive involved a
series of rearward and forward arcs to get to more favorable terrain.
Most of the slip occurred during the forward arcs. The estimated slip on
the rearward arcs was 15 per cent, but the estimated slip on the forward
arcs was 39 per cent. The destination, a rock called "Dick Clark," was
still about 4.2 meters away (14 feet).
On sol 352, the incomplete drive on the previous sol had left the rover
team with a rock of interest right between the rover's front wheels.
Spirit examined a target called "Bubbles" with its microscopic imager,
then changed tools to the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer. Spirit also
made sky observations with its thermal emission spectrometer and
panoramic camera. Sol 352 ended on Dec. 29.
Spirit Update Archive <./status_spirit.html>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:
Sizing Up the Heat Shield - sol 325-332, January 05, 2005
Opportunity is healthy and has reached the site where its heat shield
hit the ground. The rover will make detailed observations of the heat
shield's remains, weather permitting. The rover experienced its first
dust storm since landing, which has affected the amount of energy
Opportunity gets each sol. When the rover landed nearly one Earth year
ago, a dust storm was subsiding and the atmosphere had an opacity of 0.9
(the higher the number, the murkier the skies). Since then, the opacity
had improved significantly and was roughly 0.5 on sol 327. On sol 328
the opacity jumped to 0.6 then to 0.8, 1.2, and 1.25 on sols 329-331. As
of sol 332 it is at 1.2 and dropping. Images from Mars Global Surveyor
orbiter have confirmed the presence of a few small dust storms in the
region. The energy intake has decreased roughly 30 percent, leaving
Opportunity with less energy for operations and communications but still
enough, with comfortable margin, to continue with the plan to
investigate the heat shield remains. The dust storms will be monitored
carefully using the rover's own instruments and images from Mars Global
Surveyor. The team will also be walking through low-energy contingencies
should they become necessary.
*Sol-by-sol summaries:*
On sol 325, Opportunity drove 27 meters (about 89 feet) backward, to
"West Point." It imaged the heat shield debris field from that vantage
point. The engineers choose to occasionally drive the rover backward for
convenience and to keep the wheel-motor lubrication more evenly distributed.
Sol 326 was the second sol of a two-sol plan. This sol was spent imaging
the heat shield debris field.
On sols 327 to 329, the Mössbauer spectrometer was placed on the
compositional calibration target for a series of observations over the
Earth weekend. This is done periodically to calibrate the Mössbauer
instrument. The rover continued routine atmospheric observations and
remote sensing of the heat shield debris field.
On sol 330, Opportunity used its panoramic camera to take images of the
heat shield debris field, then drove 15 meters (about 49 feet) to a
location called "South Point" for another look at the debris field.
On sol 331, Opportunity drove roughly 10 meters (33 feet) to approach
the flank portion of the heat shield remains. The heat shield broke into
two main piece when it hit the ground. The flank is the smaller of those
portions.
On sol 332, which ended on Dec. 30, the rover made its final approach to
the flank portion of the heat shield wreckage in preparation for
close-up inspection of the heat shield material over the New Year's
holiday weekend. The drive brought Opportunity's odometer total to 2,051
meters (1.27 miles).
-=###=-
73, Alan
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ ³
³ AX25: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC (Sysop) ³
³ IP: zl2val@qsl.net ³
³ APRS: 3903.34S/17406.45E] ³
³ ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Message timed: 23:00 on 07-Jan-2005, Local time.
Message sent using WinPack-AGW V6.80, by Roger Barker G4IDE, SK 9/9/04.
Taglines for Winpack, Version 1.00, by Colin Coker G4FCN
EMACS - Eight Megabytes And Continuous Swapping
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
