NASA Mars Rover Spirit Status 11 May 2006

SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Continues Studying Soil and Collecting Images – sol 835-841, May 11, 2006:

Spirit continued to make progress on collecting panoramic images of Martian terrain and conducting detailed studies of soil targets using the Mössbauer spectrometer. The rover acquired another column of the “McMurdo panorama” and continued to relay new data to Earth via the UHF antenna on NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter.

Sol-by-sol summary

Sol 835 (May 9, 2006): Spirit conducted scientific analysis of the soil target “Halley” using the Mössbauer spectrometer. Spirit also acquired panel 11 of the planned 27-panel, 360-degree, full-color view of the rover’s surroundings known as the McMurdo panorama.

Sol 836: Spirit conducted remote sensing observations.

Sol 837: Spirit continued acquisition of scientific data from Halley using the Mössbauer spectrometer.

Sol 838: Spirit continued acquisition of scientific data from Halley using the Mössbauer spectrometer.

Sol 839 to 841 (May 13 to 15, 2006): Plans called for Spirit to move the rover’s robotic arm back to the soil target nicknamed “Progress,” where the rover previously brushed away a fine layer of soil. The next phase of the rover’s detailed winter soil analysis experiment will be to conduct a three-day study of the brushed surface using the Mössbauer spectrometer. Plans for remote sensing were kept very light in order to devote resources to transmitting data acquired in recent weeks.

Odometry:

As of sol 836 (May 11, 2006), Spirit’s total odometry remained at 6,876.18 meters (4.27 miles).