NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Update: August 15-21, 2013

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Scouting a Boulder Field – sols 3398-3404, Aug. 15, 2013-Aug. 21, 2013:

Opportunity is at the base of ‘Solander Point’ on the rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover is scouting a large boulder field.

On Sol 3398 (Aug. 15, 2013), Opportunity drove 75 feet (22.8 meters) into the boulder field to approach a potential surface target. On Sol 3399 (Aug. 16, 2013), an Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) measurement of atmospheric argon was performed. On Sol 3400 (Aug. 17, 2013), Opportunity bumped only 1.3 feet (0.4 meters) to place a surface target within reach of the robotic arm.

After remote sensing observations over the weekend, on Sol 3403 (Aug. 20, 2013), the rover used the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) to brush the surface of the target now called ‘Platypus.’ This was followed by a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic and a placement of the APXS for a multi-sol integration.

As of Sol 3404 (Aug. 21, 2013), the solar array energy production was 367 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.660 and a solar array dust factor of 0.522.

Total odometry is 23.74 miles (38.21 kilometers).

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html#opportunity