NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Status 1 June 2006
Digging Out of the Dune
Opportunity Status for sol 833-837
Opportunity is less than a kilometer (just over half a mile) from “Victoria Crater.” During the last planned drive on sol 833, the rover became embedded in a soft dune. As designed, the drive was stopped by a slip check. The extraction process began on sol 836, with 5 meters (16 feet) of commanded motion, and 9 centimeters (3.5 inches) of actual forward progress. The results are encouraging, and extraction will continue on Friday (June 2, 2006) and over the weekend if necessary. Opportunity is otherwise healthy and continues to conduct atmospheric and targeted remote sensing on the path south.
Sol-by-sol summaries
Sol 833 (May 28, 2006): For this sol, the team planned a drive of about 30 meters (98 feet), post-drive imaging, and atmospheric remote sensing. The drive started with a small turn in place to move to the center of a dune trough. The material the rover is in is soft, and the rover experienced very high rates of slippage. A slip check precluded further driving.
Sol 834: On this second sol of a two-sol plan, Opportunity performed some atmospheric remote sensing (including cloud imaging) and recharged the batteries.
Sol 835: Opportunity took a break from driving and collected high-resolution images to better characterize the material in which the rover is embedded.
Sol 836: After evaluating the tracks and soil, the team began the extraction process. Five meters (16 feet) of driving was commanded, with limits imposed on rover tilt, mobility suspension angles, pitch, yaw, and total distance traversed. The drive resulted in 9 centimeters (3.5 inches) of forward progress. This is more than three times the rate of progress experienced during the “Purgatory Dune” extraction in April and May 2005. Hazard avoidance camera images also show that the front cleats are not as caked as during the Purgatory extraction.
Sol 837 (June 1): Plans called for the dune extraction to continue on this sol, with 10 meters (33 feet) of commanded motion. The sol 836 mobility safety checks were used. In addition, the allowable yaw range was narrowed, and the drive sequence also imposed a new limit for maximum visual odometry failures. Since visual odometry is likely to fail if more than expected progress is made, this will prevent the rover from traveling too far if it should happen to break free of the dune.
As of sol 836, Opportunity’s total odometry is 7971.42 meters (4.95 miles).
