NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Update: May 14-22, 2014

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Busy Week of Activities on Several Rock Targets – sols 3663-3671, May 14, 2014-May 22, 2014

Opportunity is exploring south of ‘Solander Point’ on the west rim of Endeavour Crater.

The rover is conducting an in-situ (contact) science campaign in the region of aluminum/hydroxyl clay minerals seen from orbit. Because of ample energy levels, Opportunity collects an atmospheric argon with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) on each evening when the rover wakes for battery conditioning and the robotic arm is not on a surface target, as it did on Sols 3663 and 3670 (May 14 and May 21, 2014).

On Sol 3664 (May 15, 2014), the rover began its surface campaign in this region with the collection of a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic and the placement of the APXS on the surface target, called ‘Bristol Well,’ a light-toned vein.

On Sols 3666 and 3667 (May 17 and 18, 2014), Opportunity repositioned the APXS each time in order to collect an offset measurement on the vein. On Sol 3669 (May 20, 2014), Opportunity bumped about 10 feet (2.9 meters) forward to reach a new surface target. On Sol 3671 (May 22, 2014), the rover began the investigation of the target, called ‘Sarcobatus Flat,’ with the collection of a MI mosaic and the placement of the APXS.

As of Sol 3671, the solar array energy production was 751 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.667 and a solar array dust factor of 0.955.

Total odometry is 24.49 miles (39.41 kilometers).