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RE: The Opportunity rover

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Image of Cape Verde taken by the Oportunity rover on 24th June, 2008 (Sol 1570)

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Credit NASA

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Image of Cape Verde taken by the opportunity rover on 3rd July, 2008 (Sol 1579)

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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Rover Takes Photos of Scenic View - sol 1574-1580, June 28-July 04, 2008:

Opportunity has completed work on the stand-off portion of the full-colour panorama of the layered cliff known as "Cape Verde." It may take a couple of weeks for the entire panorama to arrive on Earth, depending on the volume of data the rover is able to transmit during communications links.
Next, Opportunity will move closer to Cape Verde to take a high-resolution image of a smaller area in front of the rover.
During the past week, engineers characterised the performance of the rover's rock abrasion tool along the z-axis by comparing voltage and the speed of the actuator at different temperatures. In the event that the z-axis encoder lines break, as have the encoder lines for the rotate and revolve axes, this characterisation will be essential in developing a functional strategy for operating the rock abrasion tool with full, open-loop control. The z-axis encoder is responsible for moving the cutting head outward into the rock.
Next week's plans call for Opportunity to bump forward to a point only a few meters away from the cliff face to take high-resolution images. If possible, Opportunity will also conduct scientific studies of an outcrop target called "Nevada" (so named because of a rock next to it which has a shape reminiscent of the outline of the state of Nevada) using instruments on the robotic arm.
Opportunity is healthy and all subsystems are performing as expected. Energy is around 376 watt-hours (100 watt-hours is the amount of energy required to light a 100-watt bulb for one hour). As of Sol 1578 (July 2, 2008), Tau (a measure of darkness due to atmospheric dust) was at 0.413 and the dust factor (a measure of the proportion of sunlight penetrating dust on the solar arrays) was at 0.771.

Sol-by-sol summary:
In addition to receiving morning, direct-from-Earth instructions via the rover's high-gain antenna, sending evening UHF data to NASA's Odyssey orbiter for transmission to Earth, measuring atmospheric dust with the panoramic camera, surveying the sky for clouds with the navigation camera, and monitoring dust accumulation on the rover mast, Opportunity completed the following activities:

Sol 1574 (June 28, 2008): Opportunity began acquiring "dusty," super-resolution images of targeted portions of the outcrops exposed in the Cape Verde cliff dubbed "Alpha," "Bravo," "Charlie," "Delta," and "Echo." To do this, the rover compensated for dust accumulation on the right side of each lens by taking images using only a subset of available pixels. On this particular sol, Opportunity acquired dusty, super-resolution images of "Alpha" and "Echo."

Sol 1575: Opportunity acquired dusty, super-resolution images of Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo using the panoramic camera. The rover also acquired six, time-lapse movie frames in search of clouds using the navigation camera.

Sol 1576: Opportunity acquired more dusty, super-resolution images of Echo with the panoramic camera and took images of Cape Verde in shadow at 2:30 p.m. local Mars time and at 3 p.m. local Mars time.

Sol 1577: Opportunity acquired dusty, super-resolution images of a target dubbed "Foxtrot" with the panoramic camera and characterised the performance of the rock-abrasion tool along the z-axis at warm temperatures. The rover reacquired five dusty, super-resolution images of Cape Verde and Bravo.

Sol 1578: Opportunity characterised the ability of the z-axis encoder to move the cutting head of the rock abrasion tool outward at cold temperatures and reacquired dusty, super-resolution images of Alpha.

Sol 1579: In the morning, Opportunity surveyed the horizon with the panoramic camera. The rover measured argon gas in the Martian atmosphere using the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer. Opportunity also acquired a 27-by-1 panel of images of Cape Verde at dusk with the left-hand lens of the panoramic camera.

Sol 1580 (July 4, 2008): Opportunity acquired a 27-by-1 panel of images of Cape Verde at dusk with the right-hand lens of the panoramic camera.

Odometry:
As of sol 1580 (July 4, 2008), Opportunity's total odometry was 11,723.94 metres.

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Image taken by the Opportunity rover on Sol 1571

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Credit NASA

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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Bustin' Loose! - sol 1551-1557, Jun 04-10, 2008:

Opportunity finally escaped the Martian sand and backed up onto solid rock inside "Victoria Crater." Driving backward on Martian day, or sol, 1557 (June 10, 2008), the rover successfully moved the last of its six wheels up over a rocky ledge. The successful manoeuvre freed Opportunity to follow another route that will bring the rover closer to the cliff known as "Cape Verde." From there, the rover will collect high-resolution, panoramic images of rock layers in the promontory.
Also this week, the rover engineering team had the honour of hosting Houston-area Congressman and Mars exploration enthusiast John Culberson. The congressman participated in the planning of sols 1557 and 1558 (June 10-11, 2008). Culberson even helped design a science observation of the cobble informally named "Barnes" in honour of Virgil E. Barnes, former emeritus professor of geological sciences at The University of Texas at Austin.

Sol-by-sol summary:
In addition to receiving morning instructions directly from Earth via the rover's high-gain antenna and measuring atmospheric dust with the panoramic camera, Opportunity completed the following activities:

Sol 1551 (June 4, 2008): Opportunity acquired a 5-by-1 mosaic of images for a shadow test to determine how well imaging of Cape Verde can proceed in shadowed conditions.

Sol 1552: In the morning, Opportunity took spot images of the sky for calibration purposes and surveyed the horizon with the panoramic camera. After driving backward, the rover took images of cleat marks made with its wheels using the hazard-avoidance cameras. Opportunity took post-drive images of the rover mast and a 3-by-1 mosaic of images with the navigation camera. After relaying data to the Odyssey orbiter for transmission to Earth, Opportunity measured argon gas in the Martian atmosphere with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer.

Sol 1553: Opportunity completed a morning survey of the horizon and took spot images of the sky with the panoramic camera. The rover acquired a 5-by-1 mosaic of images for the shadow test and surveyed the sky at high Sun with the panoramic camera.

Sol 1554: In the morning, Opportunity acquired a six-frame, time-lapse movie of potential clouds passing overhead with the navigation camera. The rover acquired another 5-by-1 mosaic of shadow-test images with the panoramic camera. Opportunity then acquired full-colour images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of a cobble dubbed "Agassiz." The rover completed a sky survey at high Sun with the panoramic camera and, after sending data to Odyssey, measured atmospheric argon with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer.

Sol 1555: Opportunity surveyed the horizon and took spot images of the sky with the panoramic camera. The rover acquired a six-frame, time-lapse movie in search of clouds with the navigation camera. After communicating with Odyssey, Opportunity measured atmospheric argon with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer.

Sol 1556: In the morning, Opportunity took thumbnail images of the sky with the panoramic camera. After communicating with Odyssey, the rover measured atmospheric argon with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer.

Sol 1557 (June 10, 2008): In the morning, Opportunity acquired a six-frame, time-lapse movie in search of clouds with the navigation camera and surveyed surrounding rock clasts with the panoramic camera. The rover acquired full-colour images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of Barnes. Opportunity then drove backward and acquired post-drive images of surrounding terrain and of the rover mast with the navigation camera as well as images of cleat imprints made by the rover's wheels with the hazard-avoidance cameras. After sending data to Odyssey, Opportunity measured atmospheric argon. Plans for the following morning called for the rover to monitor dust on the rover mast and take another six-frame movie of potential clouds passing overhead.

Odometry:
As of sol 1557 (June 10, 2008), Opportunity's total odometry was 11,691.84 metres.

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Image of Victoria Crater that was taken by the Opportunity rover on June 18th, 2008 (Sol 1564).

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Credit NASA

-- Edited by Blobrana at 19:37, 2008-06-18

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Image of a rock in Duck Bay that was taken by the Opportunity rover on June 10, 2008 (Sol 1557)

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Image of a rock in Duck Bay that was taken by the Opportunity rover on May 23, 2008 (Sol 1539).

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Credit NASA

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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: On the Road Again! - sol 1545-1550, May 29 - Jun 03, 2008:

After passing a series of tests to earn a new driver's certificate, Opportunity resumed driving while keeping its robotic arm in a new, "stowed" position that is essentially mostly unstowed. Engineers studied the vehicle's response in a variety of scenarios and determined that the new, unstowed position minimises joint stresses, provides a clear field of view for driving, provides sufficient clearance between the turret holding the scientific instruments and the surface, and allows the largest possible work volume for in-situ science.
In fact, tests of a surrogate rover on Earth were in some ways an "overtest," because gravitational forces on Earth are greater than on Mars.
Opportunity completed two drives, advancing about 0.5 metres on Sol 1547 (May 31, 2008) and 0.22 metres on Sol 1550 (June 3, 2008). The robotic arm behaved as expected during both drives.
Prior to the recent electrical anomaly that caused the robotic arm to stall, Opportunity performed a "toe dip," during which the rover drove forward a short distance and then backward to characterize the sandy terrain en route to a promontory dubbed "Cape Verde." During the procedure, Opportunity experienced significant wheel slippage of more than 90 percent in addition to high tilt while moving backward. After a series of adjustments, rover operators discovered that the rover's front wheels had begun to dig into the terrain. They decided to stop driving forward and focus on driving backward to extract the rover's front wheels from the sand.
During this week's two drives, Opportunity continued to make slow and steady progress toward backing out of the sand. Once the rover's wheels are free, Opportunity will head for a staging area to make more observations of the Cape Verde promontory. The staging area is about 15 metres away, or about the length of two passenger buses lined up end to end.
Opportunity continued to acquire images for the full-colour "Garrels panorama" as well as images of the soil target informally named "Williams." The rover remains healthy and all subsystems are performing as expected. Solar-array energy has averaged about 475 watt-hours (100 watt-hours is the amount of energy needed to light a 100-watt bulb for one hour).

Sol-by-sol summary:
In addition to receiving morning instructions directly from Earth via the rover's high-gain antenna and measuring atmospheric dust with the panoramic camera, Opportunity completed the following activities:

Sol 1545 (May 29, 2008): Opportunity acquired Part 12 of the Garrels panorama.

Sol 1546: Opportunity took images of Williams, surveyed the sky at high Sun, took thumbnail images of the sky for calibration purposes and surveyed the horizon with the panoramic camera.

Sol 1547: Opportunity drove 0.5 metres. Before and after the drive, the rover took images of the robotic arm with the navigation camera. The rover took post-drive images of the surface near the wheels with the hazard-avoidance cameras and images of the surrounding terrain with the navigation camera.

Sol 1548: In the morning, Opportunity took spot images of the sky for calibration purposes with the panoramic camera and six time-lapse movie frames in search of clouds with the navigation camera. The rover measured argon gas in the Martian atmosphere with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer.

Sol 1549: After relaying data to NASA's Odyssey orbiter, Opportunity continued to measure atmospheric argon with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer.

Sol 1550 (June 3, 2008): In the morning, Opportunity produced a six-frame, time-lapse movie in search of Martian clouds with the navigation camera. The rover drove 0.22 metres toward Cape Verde and acquired post-drive images with the hazard-avoidance and navigation cameras. After sending data to Odyssey, Opportunity measured atmospheric argon. Plans for the next morning called for Opportunity to acquire panoramic-camera images of the rover's external magnets and survey as well as acquire thumbnail images of the sky with the panoramic camera for calibation purposes.

Odometry:
As of sol 1550 (June 3, 2008), Opportunity's total odometry was 11,690.27 metres.