Spirit 100 Meters From The Top

MARSDAILY

A year long climb

Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 10, 2005
Spirit has been busy performing investigations with the tools on its robotic arm. It studied two targets on the rock dubbed "Bourgeoisie," and did a small bump to "Hausmann" to take some microscopic images.

The plan was to drive away the next day, but the uplink did not happen correctly. The drive was replanned for Aug. 5 (sol 565). As of sol 564, Spirit is approximately 100 meters (328 feet) from the summit, and the rover will continue driving towards it.

Sol-by-sol summaries

Sol 559 (July 29, 2005): Spirit continued Moessbauer spectrometer investigations on "Chic" (a target on the rock Bourgeoisie).

Sol 560: Spirit took pictures with the microscopic imager, brushed with the rock abrasion tool, and performed an alpha particle X-ray spectrometer reading on "Gentil Matrice" (another target on Bourgeoisie).

Sol 561: Spirit used the Moessbauer spectrometer on Gentil Matrice and did targeted remote sensing.

Sol 562: Spirit finished its Moessbauer spectrometer investigations on Gentil Matrice, and drove to Hausmann (the rock next door).

Sol 563: Spirit took pictures of Hausmann with the microscopic imager. A drive to "Assemblee" (the next target) was desired, but there was not enough time. A nap was required to keep rover internal temperatures below the allowable limit, so the drive was eliminated from the plan.

Sol 564: The plan was for Spirit to drive a small "bump" to Assemblee. This plan did not make it to the rover. Before the communications uplink window started, the sweep into the low-gain antenna failed, and the Deep Space Network antenna did not lock up on the high-gain antenna until after all sequences were sent.

The default science plan already onboard ran studies of the atmosphere with the panoramic camera.

Sol 565 (Aug. 5, 2005): This sol's plan was a repeat of the plan for sol 564, and all commands were sent to Spirit twice. As of the beginning of its 565th sol on Mars, Spirit had driven 4,689 meters (2.91 miles).

MARSDAILY

Spirit Wraps Up Work In Voltaire Region

Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 08, 2005
It'll have to be a quick one this week. Spirit is just wrapping up work in the Voltaire region. We gave Voltaire the full treatment with all of the arm instruments at Bourgeoisie, and then we took a bunch of MI images of a rock right next door named Hausmann.

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.