NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Update: Study of ‘Ruiz Garcia’ Rock Completed

Opportunity Status for sol 2527-2532: Opportunity completed the in-situ (contact) investigation on the surface target Ruiz Garcia at Santa Maria crater. On Sol 2520 (Feb. 25, 2011), the rover used the robotic arm (Instrument Deployment Device, or IDD) to collect a microscopic imager (MI) image mosaic of Ruiz Garcia. Then, it placed the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) down on the target for multi-sol integration. On Sol 2531 (March 8, 2011), the rover backed away from the target and drove about 8.7 meters (29 feet) north to set up for the final wide-baseline stereo imaging, the last imaging before leaving Santa Maria crater.

As of Sol 2532 (March 9, 2011), solar array energy production was 412 watt-hours with an elevated atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 1.05 and a solar array dust factor of 0.5565.

Total odometry is 26,695.66 meters (26.70 kilometers, or 16.59 miles).