OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Grinding into ‘Cape Faraday’ - sol 936-940,
September 15, 2006:
Opportunity is healthy and is currently driving toward “Victoria
Crater,” which is a little over 100 meters (328 feet) away. On sol 936
(Sept. 11, 2006), a short bump was made to a robotic arm rock target
called “Cape Faraday” near the crater “Emma Dean.” Opportunity drove
1.45 meters (4.8 feet) between sols 936-940.
Sol-by-sol summaries:
Sol 936 (Sept. 11, 2006): The morning of this sol saw the rover
monitoring the amount of dust on itself using the panoramic mast
assembly. Opportunity completed a panoramic camera tau, assessing the
clarity of the sky. The rover then bumped to the robotic arm target at
Emma Dean Crater and took a panoramic camera image of the arm’s work
area. Another measurement was done before the Mars Odyssey pass. During
the pass, Opportunity used the miniature thermal emission spectrometer
and had a look at that instrument’s calibration target.
Sol 937: Opportunity used the morning to examine certain points in the
sky with its panoramic camera and miniature thermal emission
spectrometer. The miniature thermal emission spectrometer took
measurements of the sky and ground, and the instrument’s calibration
targets were examined.
Sol 938: Opportunity completed another assessment of the clarity of the
sky. The rover used its miniature thermal emission spectrometer to
measure points on the sky and ground and used its navigation camera to
search for clouds. The rover’s miniature thermal emission spectrometer
had a look at targets “Thompson” and “Jones.”
Sol 939: The rover did another assessment of the sky, a tau
measurement.
The rover used its microscopic imager to snap a photo of Cape Faraday
before grinding. The rock abrasion tool ground into the target and the
microscopic imager took the “after” shot. The panoramic camera took
images in the rover’s driving direction. The alpha particle X-ray
spectrometer was used after the Odyssey pass.
Sol 940 (Sept. 15, 2005): On this morning, Opportunity used its
panoramic camera to examine targets in the sky and used the miniature
thermal emission spectrometer to look at the sky and ground. The rover
examined Cape Faraday with the Moessbauer spectrometer, and took a look
at the rock “Beaman” with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.
During the Odyssey pass, the rover investigated the miniature thermal
emission spectrometer calibration target.
As of sol 936, (Sept. 11, 2006) Opportunity’s total odometry was
9130.29
meters (5.67 miles)