NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Update – February 13-20, 2013

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: ‘Big Nickel’ Rock Target Ahead – sols 3220-3227, Feb. 13, 2013-Feb. 20, 2013:

Opportunity is conducting the post-walkabout in-situ (contact) science campaign at different locations around the inboard edge of ‘Cape York’ on the rim of Endeavour Crater.

On Sol 3221 (Feb. 14, 2013), it was planned to have the rover perform a very small turn to position the robotic arm for an acceptable surface target, but a Deep Space Network issue prevented the command sequences from reaching the rover. With imagery subsequently returned from Opportunity, an acceptable target was found within reach of the arm, negating the need for a turn.

On Sol 3224 (Feb. 17, 2013), Opportunity used the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) to brush the surface target ‘Maley,’ which was then followed by a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic and a placement of the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) for an overnight integration. With work complete at this location, on Sol 3227 (Feb. 20, 2013), the rover drove approximately 120 feet (36.5 meters) to the southeast towards the rock target ‘Big Nickel’ to begin an in-situ investigation there. No ‘amnesia’ events with the Flash file system have occurred since Sol 3183 (Jan. 6, 2013), and the rover is otherwise in good health.

As of Sol 3226 (Feb. 19, 2013), the solar array energy production was 521 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.829 and an estimated solar array dust factor of 0.618.

Total odometry is 22.11 miles (35576.09 meters).