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ZL2VAL > ROVERS 05.03.04 11:03l 75 Lines 3468 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 5197-ZL2VAL
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Subj: Rovers status, 4th March
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Sent: 040305/0913Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:37099 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g $:5197-ZL
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : ROVERS@WW
Update: Spirit and Opportunity
SPIRIT UPDATE: Ready to Hit the Road Again - sol 60, Mar 04, 2004
Spirit completed its observations at "Middle Ground" on its 60th martian
sol, ending at 9:11 p.m., PST on March 4. Waking up to "Pictures to
Prove It," by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Spirit finished gathering
data from the rock abrasion tool hole on "Humphrey" with the alpha
particle X-ray spectrometer and the microscopic imager.
The panoramic camera then continued to acquire more images for the
360-degree view from the current rover position at "Middle Ground."
After backing up 0.85 meters (about 2.8 feet), the miniature thermal
emission spectrometer and panoramic camera had their turn to collect
data and images from both of the rock abrasion tool's latest efforts on
"Humphrey" - the triple-brushed area and the depression.
As of this sol, Spirit has traveled 195.24 meters (about 641 feet).
Plans for next sol include backing up and turning to avoid "Ingrid," a
20-centimeter (about 8 inches) rock to the west of "Humphrey," and then
driving approximately 25 meters (82 feet) toward "Bonneville" in the
northeast. Spirit will also snap the final images that will make up the
360-degree panorama of "Middle Ground."
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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: An Armada of Arm Moves - sol 39, Mar 04, 2004
On sol 39, which ends at 8:52 a.m. PST on Thursday, March 4, Opportunity
awoke to "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival in honor of
the eclipse caused by the martian moon Deimos.
The science and engineering team built a whopping 490 commands to
accomplish the most complex robotic arm operations on Mars yet.
Opportunity took three mosaics on the area dubbed "Last Chance," using
the microscopic imager, creating 128 images in over 200 arm moves. Each
"frame" of these mosaics required multiple microscopic images. There are
two reasons for this. First, the microscopic imager does not have
auto-focus, so the team needed to have Opportunity take and return
multiple images at each location at different distances from the rock to
get at least one in focus. A second reason is that the team needed
Opportunity to take an extra image at a slightly different angle for
each frame to create the right conditions to build stereo and
computer-generated graphics of the "topography" of the rock area up close.
After about two-and-a-half hours of microscopic imager maneuvers, the
robotic arm placed the Mössbauer spectrometer on a location at "Last
Chance" called "Makar." Opportunity also used the panoramic camera to
watch the rare solar crossing of the sun by the moon Diemos and took
images of the sky in coordination with the European Space Agency's
orbiter at Mars, Mars Express.
The plan for sol 40, which will end at 9:32 a.m. PST on Friday, March 5
is to continue taking microscopic images of the "Last Chance" area, then
drive to a new location dubbed "The Dells."
73 de Alan
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"But what...is it good for?"
- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, commenting
on the microchip, 1968
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