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ZL2VAL > ROVERS 10.03.04 10:28l 73 Lines 2986 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 200605ZL2VAL
Read: GUEST
Subj: Rovers Status, 9th March
Path: DB0FHN<DB0RGB<DB0MRW<OK0PKL<OK0PPL<DB0RES<ON0AR<7M3TJZ<SP7MGD<ZL2TZE<
ZL2AB
Sent: 040310/0915Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:37370 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : ROVERS@WW
Update: Spirit and Opportunity
SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Reaches the 300-Meter Mark! - sol 64, Mar 08, 2004
Spirit completed another 29 meters (94 feet) of its drive toward the rim
of "Bonneville" crater on sol 64, which ended at 11:49 p.m. PST,
bringing its total odometry to 314 meters (1,030 feet) - 14 meters (45.9
feet) past the minimum mission success criterion.
Spirit began the morning with an 18-meter (59 feet) direct drive that
safely maneuvered the rover through a field of rocks. Spirit then
traversed 11 more meters (35 feet) using autonomous navigation and at
11:30 a.m. Mars Local Solar Time completed the drive. Spirit had some
difficulty finding a way around an obstacle during the last portion of
the commanded drive. That resulted in some repeated forward and backward
maneuvering which left an interesting "trench" for scientists to have
the rover peer into.
Spirit is climbing up a very steep part of "Bonneville" now, and ended
this sol's drive tilted at a forward pitch of about 15 degrees.
For the next sol, the plan was to have Spirit perform some mini-thermal
emission spectrometer sky and ground observations before waking up to do
a touch-and-go and drive again!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Back to the Grind - sol 44, Mar 09, 2004
On Opportunity's 44th sol, ending at 12:10 p.m. PST on Tuesday, March 9,
the rock abrasion tool ground a 3.1 millimeter-deep (just over one-tenth
of an inch) hole in the "Mojo 2" target on "Flatrock." Yesterday,
diagnostic testing determined a voltage adjustment was necessary to
overcome some mechanism "stickiness" in the routine during which the
rock abrasion tool finds the highest point in the target area.
The routine worked perfectly on this grind with the new voltage setting.
After one hour and five minutes of successful grinding, the rock
abrasion tool grind motor stalled, probably while grinding into one of
the spherules also known as "blueberries." These objects are known to
obstruct the grinding tool and cause it to terminate its sequence.
Late in the martian morning, the Mössbauer spectrometer was placed on
the hole, followed later by the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer. The
miniature thermal emission spectrometer took two long atmospheric
measurements. The panoramic camera was busy taking images of the hole as
well as surrounding target areas.
The wake-up songs were "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)" by Janis Joplin
for the rock abrasion tool's second attempt at "Mojo 2," and "X-ray
Eyes" by Kiss for the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer.
=========================
73 de Alan, (Sysop ZL2AB).
AX25:ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
APRS:!3903.34S/17406.45E]
IP :zl2val@qsl.net
Message timed: 21:55 on 2004-Mar-10 (NZT)
Message sent using WinPack-AGW V6.80
Points to ponder
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Marriage
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Man is incomplete until he is married. Then he is finished.
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