NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Update November 05-11, 2010 (with panorama)
Driving Through a Field of Small Craters – sols 2411-2417, November 05-11, 2010: Opportunity has been navigating through a field of small impact craters on her way to Endeavour crater.
On Sol 2411 (Nov. 5, 2010), the rover performed an in-place 40-degree turn for communication. This improved the data volume transmitted over the afternoon orbiter Ultra High Frequency relay pass. Then on Sol 2412 (Nov. 6, 2010), Opportunity began her approach to Intrepid crater, a 20-meter (66-foot) diameter crater to the southwest. The rover performed a 96-meter (315-foot) drive, with the last 12 meters (39 feet) of the drive under autonomous navigation. On Sol 2415 (Nov. 9, 2010), Opportunity completed the approach to Intrepid with a 36-meter (118 foot) drive, positioning the rover safely near the crater’s rim. Opportunity will spend the next few days imaging the interior of the crater before driving away.
As of Sol 2416 (Nov. 10, 2010), solar array energy production was 612 watt-hours with a slightly elevated atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.704 and a solar array dust factor of 0.681.
Total odometry is 24,946.12 meters (24.95 kilometers, 15.50 miles).
