NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Update April 13-17, 2012

Opportunity Benefits From Brighter Skies and Small Dust Cleaning of Solar Panels – sols 2922-2926,

Opportunity is positioned on the north end of Cape York on the rim of Endeavour Crater with an approximate 15-degree northerly tilt for favorable solar energy production.

The solar insolation has been improving and the rover has benefitted from some small dust cleaning events. Radio Doppler tracking passes for the geo-dynamic investigation were performed on Sols 2922, 2924, and 2925 (April 13, 15 and 16, 2012).

Since resuming in-situ (contact) science with the robotic arm instruments, the team has continued work on the Microscopic Imager mosaic they have been building over the winter, with additional pieces acquired on Sols 2924 and 2926 (April 15 and 17, 2012). Each of these was followed by a placement of the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) for an overnight integration on the rock target “Amboy”.

As of Sol 2926 (April 17, 2012), solar array energy production was 342 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.504 and a solar array dust factor of 0.525.

Total odometry is unchanged at 21.35 miles (34,361.37 meters).