* Astronomy

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Finishing Up at 'Olympia' - sol 723-728, Feb 10, 2006:

Opportunity is healthy. The rover is in the midst of a robotic-arm and remote-sensing campaign on a feature informally named "Roosevelt." Last week Opportunity used its microscopic imager, Moessbauer spectrometer and alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to examine "Overgaard."

The short-term goal is to finish studying the "Olympia" outcrop by mid next week. The final feature that will be characterised in this location is called "Bellemont."

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 723 (Feb. 4, 2006): Finished the microscopic-imager mosaic on Overgaard.

Sol 724: Stowed the robotic arm in the hover position. Attempted a short drive to Roosevelt, but the drive ended early due to suspension limits.

Sol 725: Succeeded in short drive to Roosevelt.

Sol 726: Used alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and Moessbauer spectrometer on a target called "Rough Rider."

Sol 727: Used the microscopic imager for an image mosaic of Roosevelt.

Sol 728: Continued using the Moessbauer spectrometer on Rough Rider.
Acquired high-resolution images of surrounding outcrops with the panoramic camera.

Total odometry as of sol 728 (Feb. 9, 2006): 6,509.8 meters.

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Mozart on Mars - sol 715-721, Feb 02, 2006:

Opportunity is healthy and is continuing the characterization of an outcrop called "Olympia." The rover is on top of a feature called "Overgaard." The plan is to complete a mosaic with the microscopic imager, then drive toward a feature called "Roosevelt" and examine it with tools on the robotic arm.

The informal names of targets on Overgaard are related to Mozart, marking his 250th birthday on Jan. 27.

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 715 and 716 (Jan. 27 and 28, 2006): Used the microscopic imager on "Branchwater" and "Bourbon."

Sol 717: Bumped to Overgaard to do an extensive mosaic with the microscopic imager.

Sol 718: Conducted untargeted remote sensing (atmospheric science).

Sol 719: Planned use of the microscopic imager on targets "Don_Giovanni," "Salzburg" and "Nachtmusik," but a robotic arm error occurred during the work on Salzburg.

Sol 720: Conducted untargeted remote sensing.

Sol 721 (Feb. 2, 2006): Cleared the errors for another attempt to use the microscopic imager on Overgaard.

Opportunity's total odometry as of sol 721 is 6,505 metres.

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Takes Microscopic Images, Collaborates with European Mars Mission - sol 708-714, Jan 27, 2006:

Opportunity remains healthy following another busy week. The main activity of the week was taking microscopic images of a feature nicknamed "Lower Overgaard." The science team identified individual, high-priority targets of interest, nicknamed "Scotch," "Bourbon," and "Branchwater." After the microscopic imager successfully acquired images of "Scotch," one of the actuator motors on Opportunity's robotic arm (Joint 2, which controls elevation) stalled less than 1 milliradian from its final position. Engineers performed diagnostic activities on Joint 2 over the weekend and determined that the actuator appeared to function properly. Opportunity resumed work with the microscopic imager but was unsuccessful because of a stall on the Joint 1 actuator. Engineers increased the electrical resistance and Opportunity again began acquiring microscopic images.

This past week, Opportunity also supported coordinated observations with the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft, using the miniature thermal emission spectrometer and panoramic camera, and also took images of a transit across the sun by Phobos. Science team members next plan to adjust the rover's position slightly to conduct microscopic analysis of another target area, nicknamed "Upper Overgaard."

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 708 (Jan. 21, 2006): Opportunity took microscopic images of a surface target dubbed Scotch on Lower Overgaard. Microscopic imaging was successful, but the Joint 2 (elevation) actuator motor on the rover's robotic arm stalled less than 1 milliradian from its final position.

Sol 709: Opportunity conducted diagnostics of Joint 2 during the weekend and acquired images of a Phobos transit.

Sol 710: Opportunity conducted remote science observations and supported Mars Express observations using the miniature thermal emission spectrometer and panoramic camera.

Sol 711: Opportunity took thumbnail images of the sky and images of Mars' albedo (a measure of surface reflectivity) with the panoramic camera in support of a coordinated observations by Mars Express.

Sol 712: Opportunity took super-high-resolution images of targets known as "Loupp" and "Dewey" with the panoramic camera.

Sol 713: As Opportunity began executing a plan to take microscopic images of the Bourbon target on Lower Overgaard, a joint on the rover's robotic arm (Joint 1, which controls shoulder azimuth) stalled, preventing acquisition of the microscopic images.

Sol 714 (Jan. 27, 2006): Opportunity re-acquired some of the microscopic images of the target Scotch that were not fully in focus when first taken on sol 708 (Jan. 21, 2006).

As of sol 714, Opportunity's total odometry remained at 6504.55 meters.

Two years ago, the Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, landed on Meridiani Planum. The rover marked its first Mars-year (687 Earth Days) anniversary in December 2005.

During the landing in January 2004, rockets were fired to slow the final descent, just before the inflated airbags (containing the folded-up lander and rover) were released. The rockets disturbed the sandy surface at the location labelled "blast effects." Following release, the airbags bounced and rolled until coming to rest inside Eagle Crater. The lander, in fact, can be seen as a bright spot near the centre of Eagle Crater. Meanwhile, the jettisoned parachute and backshell landed to the southwest of Eagle, and the heatshield fell just southwest of Endurance Crater.

Opportunity initially examined sedimentary rock outcrops and sandy, windblown regolith within Eagle Crater. Then it was driven by the rover team out of Eagle and on into Endurance Crater. By the end of 2004, Opportunity had left Endurance and was investigating the site where the heatshield impacted the surface. After that, the rover spent much of the year 2005 driving from the heatshield location down to the shallow Erebus Crater.


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Location near: 2.0°S, 5.6°W

Long-term plans call for driving Opportunity from Erebus to Victoria Crater, where a substantially thicker sequence of layered rock is expected to be found, relative to previous outcrops examined in the craters Endurance and Eagle.