NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Update: September 18-24, 2013

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Taking Snapshots Galore at ‘Solander Point’ – sols 3432-3437, Sept. 18, 2013-Sept. 24, 2013:

Opportunity is at the northern edge of ‘Solander Point’ on the rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover is investigating the geologic contact at the base of Solander Point.

Sol 3432 (Sept. 18, 2013), began with pre-drive color Panoramic Camera (Pancam) imaging of targets ‘Long Nosed Potoroo,’ ‘Little Red Kaluta,’ and some nearby rock outcrop. A short, 7 foot (2-meter) bump followed, set the rover in position for some in-situ (contact) science on a surface target. On Sol 3433 (Sept. 19, 2013), a late afternoon, low-sun Pancam sky survey was conducted.

On Sol 3433 (Sept. 19, 2013), Opportunity performed a brush with the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) of the surface target called ‘Wally Wombat,’ followed by a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic, and then a placement of the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) for a multi-sol integration. Sol 3436 (Sept. 23, 2013), included taking a color Pancam panorama of nearby dunes. On Sol 3437 (Sept. 24, 2013), Opportunity captured Pancam images of the apron transect, ‘Agile Antechinus’ and the local contact edge between ground formations. A 107 foot (32.5-meter) drive to the southwest followed. At the beginning of the drive, Opportunity looked back at target ‘Wally Wombat’ to acquire a 13-filter Pancam image of the brushed target. After the drive, Opportunity acquired a Navigation Camera (Navcam) 5×1 mosaic and performed an APXS atmospheric argon integration.

As of Sol 3437 (Sept. 24, 2013), the solar array energy production was 322 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.620 and a solar array dust factor of 0.505.

Total odometry is 23.84 miles (38.37 kilometers).

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