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On Sol 150, Opportunity completed Moessbauer spectrometer observations in the rock abrasion tool hole on the rock "Tennessee" (hole number 3). The rover then stowed its arm, drove 0.55 meters (1.8 feet) backwards, turned to 40 degrees and then drove 1 meter (3.3 feet) forward. That was a net forward motion of 0.45 meters (1.5 feet) down-crater. This drive enabled Opportunity to reach two targets in the fifth distinct layer (E) of "Endurance Crater." The night of sol 150 into morning of sol 151, Opportunity did not do a deep sleep. It was time to get to work again drilling another rock abrasion tool hole on sol 151. Opportunity began the sol by performing panoramic camera images, then it unstowed its arm and used the microscopic imager to capture the next drilling target, "Grindstone." After using the microscopic imager, Opportunity spend two hours grinding and created another precise hole. Upon completing the grinding operation, Opportunity placed the Moessbauer in the hole and performed a long integration. Opportunity did a mini-deep sleep operation overnight from sol 151 into the morning of sol 152. The miniature thermal emission spectrometer reached a chilly -51 degrees Celsius overnight. On sol 152, Opportunity completed the observations on the hole on Grindstone. When the rover woke up from deep sleep at 7:00a.m. local solar time, it turned on the Moessbauer spectrometer and integrated until mid-afternoon. When the Moessbauer integration was complete, the rover switched tools to place the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer in the hole. On sol 153 Opportunity ended the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer integration, and set its sights on still another rock abrasion tool target. This time Opportunity stretched its arm out just a little farther down into the crater to a target called "Kettlestone." Grinding again for just over two hours, Opportunity successfully created the fifth hole on the slopes of Endurance Crater. The last two grind operations took place on a slope of -25.6 degrees. Just as on sol 151, after completing the drilling operation, Opportunity placed the Moessbauer spectrometer in the new hole and collected data late into the night. Shutting down late at night, Opportunity deep slept until 7:00a.m. local solar time on sol 154. Total odometry after sol 153 was 1468.46 meters (0.91246 mile). Related Links Mars Rovers at JPL Mars Rovers at Cornell SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express 
Opportunity Update: RAT Hops From Virginia To London
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 30, 2004While Opportunity is hard at work inside "Endurance Crater," engineers at JPL are busy testing engineering models in the Lab's simulated martian environment. A tilt platform is being used to determine Opportunity's ability to climb back up over the "curb" below its current location. |
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