NASA Mars Rover Status 29 Jun 2004

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Rock Abrasion Tool Hops from ‘Virginia’ to ‘London’ – sol 144-149, June 29, 2004

While Opportunity is hard at work inside "Endurance Crater,"
engineers at JPL are busy testing engineering models in the
Lab’s simulated martian environment. A tilt platform is
being used to determine Opportunity’s ability to climb back
up over the "curb" below its current location.

On sol 144, Opportunity completed the Mossbauer spectrometer
integration on the rock abrasion tool hole on the "Cobble
Hill" area. Microscopic images were also collected.

Sol 145 was a busy day, with the rover collecting more
post-rock abrasion tool Cobble Hill and pre-"Virginia"
microscopic images. The tool then bored a 4.3-millimeter
(0.17 inches) hole in Virginia. Deep sleep mode was
invoked for the overnight hours.

Sol 146 was used to examine the newly-abraded hole with
the microscopic imager and the alpha particle X-ray
spectrometer.

On sol 147 the rover performed a long Mossbauer
spectrometer integration on Virginia and completed some
remote sensing from its location in the crater. After
relaying the data through both Mars Global Surveyor and
Mars Odyssey, Opportunity went into deep sleep mode for
the night.

"London" was Opportunity’s target on sol 148. The rock
abrasion tool ground a 4.5-millimeter (0.18 inches) hole
in the rock. The alpha particle X-ray spectrometer was
then placed on the hole for integration.

On sol 149 the rover continued to scrutinize London with
the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and the microscopic
imager. A Mossbauer spectrometer integration was
initiated and will be completed on sol 150. Deep sleep
mode was invoked for the overnight hours.