Mars Rover Opportunity Update: Opportunity Spies Outcrop Ahead (with recent photos)

Opportunity Status for sol 2601-2607: Opportunity continues the trek towards Endeavour crater with less than 3.5 kilometers (2.17 miles) before the first landfall. The rover drove on three of the last seven sols.

Opportunity started with a challenge. On Sol 2601 (May 19, 2011), a long drive was cut short by a cosmic ray-induced single event upset (SEU) in the electronics of one of the motor control boards. The rover safely stopped after only 29 meters (95 feet) when the event occurred. The rover is okay and the electronics are fine. These events happen from time to time.

Opportunity picked up again on Sol 2603 (May 21, 2011), with a drive of nearly 129 meters (423 feet) to the east/southeast. The science team has spied an outcrop ahead to perform some brief in situ (contact) science. Opportunity moved a modest 41 meters (135 feet) to the east/southeast as the approach to this outcrop. The plan is to briefly examine this outcrop before moving on.

As of Sol 2607 (May 25, 2011), solar array energy production was 408 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.827 and a solar array dust factor of 0.535.

Total odometry is 29,908.20 meters (29.91 kilometers, or 18.58 miles).