NASA Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity Update: February 19-26, 2014

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Crushing Rocks With Wheels – sols 3581-3588, Feb. 19, 2014-Feb. 26, 2014:

Opportunity is exploring ‘Murray Ridge’ on Solander Point, part of the rim of Endeavour Crater.

Investigation continued on ‘Anchor Point,’ Sol 3581 (Feb. 19, 2014) through Sol 3583 (Feb. 21, 2014), with Microscopic Imager (MI) and Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) on two soil locations.

On Sol 3585 (Feb. 23, 2014), the arm crushed the rock ‘Sledge Island’ some more and then backed up to inspect the results. Sledge Island was indeed crushed, and parts of it were in the Instrument Deployment Device (IDD) work volume. The team generated a Microscopic Imager mosaic and placed the APXS on it Sol 3587 (Feb. 25, 2014). The subsequent integration appears to have been successful. This should largely wrap-up the work at the current location, though the team will attempt to crack ‘Stuart Island’ under the wheel as the rover drives away.

As of Sol 3588 (Feb. 26, 2014), the solar array energy production was 464 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.498 and a solar array dust factor of 0.691.

Total odometry is 24.07 miles (38.74 kilometers).