NASA Mars Opportunity Rover Status for sol 778-784

Opportunity is healthy and is continuing to drive toward “Victoria Crater.” Thanks to talented rover planners and sturdy construction, the rover covered a distance totaling about 170 meters (558 feet) during the week. The scenery has been beautiful and consistent: lots of ripples sprinkled with a dash of outcrops.

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 778 (April 2, 2006): Opportunity drove 25.3 meters (83 feet) and used its navigation and panoramic cameras to image the area after the drive. The rover also observed the atmosphere.

Sol 779: The rover took 13-filter panoramic camera images to survey the ground near it. The miniature thermal emission spectrometer observed the sky and ground.

Sol 780: Opportunity drove 58.4 meters (192 feet), took navigation and panoramic camera images of the post-drive area, and conducted atmospheric and remote sensing.

Sol 781: The rover drove 32 meters (105 feet), used its navigation and panoramic cameras to image the post drive-area, and conducted atmospheric remote sensing.

Sol 782: Opportunity drove 45 meters (148 feet), used its navigation and panoramic cameras to image the post-drive area, and conducted atmospheric remote sensing.

Sols 783 and 784 (April 7 and 8, 2006): These sols’ plans are for targeted remote sensing.

Total odometry: 7,249 meters (4.5 miles) as of end of sol 782.