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RE: The Opportunity rover

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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Tests New Driving Software and Helps Its Sister Spacecraft - sol 1002-1015, December 04, 2006:

Opportunity is healthy and making progress imaging "Victoria Crater." Sol 1002 began with a short drive to the edge of "Cape St. Mary" in order to take better images of the northeast side of "Cape Verde."
On Sols 1005 and 1006 (Nov. 21 and 22, 2006), Opportunity participated in efforts to recover communications with NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter, which had not communicated with Earth for more than two weeks at that point. Mars Global Surveyor was sent a command in the blind to try to communicate with Opportunity via their UHF radios on each of these two sols. Alas, Opportunity never received any signal from the orbiter on either attempt.
On Sol 1009, Opportunity departed Cape St. Mary and headed toward a point overlooking "Bottomless Bay" (Bahia sin Fondo) more than 100 metres away. Drives on sols 1009, 1012 and 1014 added about 80 metres in the direction of Bottomless Bay.
On Sol 1013, Opportunity added to the rapidly growing list of simultaneous, multi-spacecraft science observations with a coordinated overflight by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of the area around Opportunity. At a predetermined time, that orbiter's remote sensing instruments took measurements in the vicinity of Opportunity while Opportunity took "ground truth" measurements of the atmosphere and ground.
Sol 1014's drive included the first step in a series of checkouts of the rover's new "D-star" drive capability. This was added to create a more capable autonomous navigation system. The benefits include better hazard-avoidance capability, less user intervention and longer hazard-avoidance traverses per sol.

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 1002 (Nov. 18, 2006): The rover drove 1.04 metres, then conducted remote sensing of Cape Verde.

Sol 1003: Opportunity conducted untargeted remote sensing.

Sol 1004: Opportunity conducted untargeted remote sensing.

Sol 1005: The rover used its panoramic camera to collect images for a mosaic of Cape Verde. This was the first sol during which Opportunity attempted to hear from Mars Global Surveyor.

Sol 1006: This sol was the second attempt to use Opportunity to receive a signal from Mars Global Surveyor. The rover also did targeted remote sensing.

Sol 1007: Opportunity conducted targeted remote sensing.

Sol 1008: Opportunity conducted untargeted remote sensing.

Sol 1009: The rover drove 43.7 metres away from Cape St. Mary toward Bottomless Bay.

Sol 1010: Opportunity conducted untargeted remote sensing.

Sol 1011: Opportunity conducted untargeted remote sensing.

Sol 1012: The rover drove 14.5 metres toward Bottomless Bay.

Sol 1013: The rover conducted remote sensing and did coordinated science observations with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Sol 1014: Opportunity drove about 22 metres toward Bottomless Bay. The new "D-star" driving software was tested.

Sol 1015 (Dec. 1, 2006): Opportunity did untargeted remote science.

After the drive on sol 1014, Opportunity's total odometery is 9,555 metres

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This photo was taken by the Opportunity rover on Sol 1007.

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Some new, high resolution images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show the hardware from the landing of the Opportunity rover.

Credit NASA

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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Passing the 1,000-Sol Mark - sol 996-1001, December 1, 2006:

Opportunity is healthy and is driving to the promontory called "Cape St. Mary." From that vantage point, Opportunity will photograph the sedimentary layers in the northeast-facing cliff of "Cape Verde," thus completing the imaging of both sides of the promontory in order to see the continuity of the layers. Opportunity continues to take long-baseline stereo images around the crater approximately every 10 metres in order to eventually acquire a detailed three-dimensional map of the crater. Opportunity drove about 33 metres on sol 994.

This week Opportunity is also celebrating its 1,000th sol anniversary of landing!

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 996 (Nov. 12, 2006): Opportunity took a tau (atmospheric clarity) measurement before its communication window with NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The rover also took a tau measurement at sunset. Since a lot of data were onboard Opportunity, several sols during this period were light on science in order to free up some of the rover's flash memory.

Sol 997: The rover took two tau measurements this sol.

Sol 998: The rover took two tau measurements this sol.

Sol 999: Opportunity took a tau measurement, then headed toward the Cape St. Mary promontory. In the middle of that 7.5-metre drive, the rover conducted a panoramic camera baseline test. After the drive, the rover took images with its navigation camera. During the Odyssey pass, the miniature thermal emission spectrometer completed an examination of the area in front of the rover.

Sol 1000: In the morning, the rover's panoramic camera took thumbnail images of the sky. The miniature thermal emission spectrometer observed sky and ground. Opportunity also took a tau measurement and used its panoramic camera to survey the sun.

Sol 1001: In the morning, Opportunity looked for clouds and looked down at its solar panels to monitor dust accumulation. The miniature thermal emission spectrometer was busy assessing the ground and sky while the panoramic camera surveyed the ground in front of the rover. Several tau measurements were taken.

As of sol 1,000 (Nov. 16, 2006), Opportunity's total odometry is 9,473 metres.

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Panorama looking towards Bottomless Bay taken by the Opportunity rover on the 1st December, 2006 (Sol 1014).

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Credit NASA

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Panorama of Cape Verde taken by the Opportunity rover at Cape St Mary on 22nd November, 2006 (Sol 1006)

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Credit: NASA/JPL

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Panorama taken by the Opportunity rover at Victoria crater on 25 November, 2006 (Sol 1009).

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Credit NASA

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Opportunity route map on Sol 999

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Cape Verde