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Over the Fourth of July weekend, Spirit completed a robotic-arm campaign which had some surprising results. It turned out that targets at "Independence Rock" seem to have less iron than expected. This result prompted the science team to take a closer look. On sol 536 (July 6), because the grinding teeth on the rock abrasion tool are worn, the rover team decided to remove some of the surface area by scuffing it with the front left wheel.
The scuff worked as follows:
Since the rover gets better alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and Moessbauer spectrometer spectral readings when we let them run long (more than 10 hours for the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and more than 20 hours for the Moessbauer spectrometer). The rest of the weekend (sols 538 to 541) will be dedicated to work using the instruments on the robotic arm. Related Links Mars Rovers at JPL Mars Rovers at Cornell SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express 
Done With This Dune
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 13, 2005Opportunity spent the past week positioning itself for robotic-arm work and studying the area at the base of "Purgatory Ripple." The rover has examined its tracks (which contain material carried out of Purgatory Dune by the wheels) and undisturbed dune material. |
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