* Astronomy

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Opportunity Studies 'Chocolate Hills' Rock - sols 2145-2151, February 4-10, 2010:

Opportunity is exploring around the rim of the very young crater "Concepcion."

On Sol 2145 (Feb. 4, 2010), the rover made a 10-meter (33-foot) approach to a rock target called "Chocolate Hills." This rock target is of interest because it exhibits a dark rind or crust that may be impact melt. On Sol 2147 (Feb. 6, 2010), Opportunity completed a 2-metre short approach to bring the target within the work volume of the robotic arm (IDD). On Sol 2149 (Feb. 8, 2010), the rover performed a small turn-in-place to position the target within reach of the IDD with its 4-degree-of-freedom azimuth limitations. On the next sol, the IDD collected a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic of the dark rind and then placed the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) for an integration. On the following sol, another set of Microscopic Imager mosaics were collected and then the Mössbauer (MB) spectrometer focused on the target called "Aloya."

The right-front wheel currents continue to be well-behaved. No improvement has been observed yet in the miniature thermal emission spectrometer (Mini-TES) elevation mirror, which continues to be opened regularly to allow cleaning by the wind.

As of Sol 2151 (Feb. 10, 2010), the solar array energy production was 306 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (tau) of 0.388 and a dust factor of 0.487. Total odometry is 19,335.35 metres.

Most of the craters that the Mars rovers have investigated are the equivalent of a detective's cold case for the robotic geologists.
Wind and time have worn away most of the evidence at meteor impacts that are millions of years old. But the evidence is still fresh at the crater Concepcion - estimated to be between a few hundred and 2,000 years old - that the rover Opportunity will spend the next couple of weeks studying.
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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Opportunity Arrives at 'Concepción' Crater - sols 2137-2144, January 27 - February 3, 2010:

Opportunity has arrived at "Concepción," a very young 10-metre diameter crater.
On Sol 2138 (Jan. 28, 2010), Opportunity completed a 12-metre approach to the crater. After a few sols of careful imaging in and around the crater, Opportunity drove about 9 metres around the crater to approach some ejecta blocks that might be suitable for further in-situ (contact) investigation by all the instruments on the end of the robotic arm (instrument deployment device, or IDD).

Some of the rocks exhibit a dark crust, potentially impact melt. The right-front wheel currents continue to be well-behaved. No improvement has been observed yet in the miniature thermal emission spectrometer (Mini-TES) elevation mirror, which continues to be opened regularly to allow cleaning by the wind. As of Sol 2144 (Feb. 3, 2010), the solar array energy production was 270 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (tau) of 0.415 and a dust factor of 0.470. Total odometry is 19,323.37 metres.

Panoramic image taken by the Opportunity rover on  Sol 2141


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Credit: NASA/JPL