NASA Mars Rover Status Report 7 March 2005

SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Perched at ‘Larry’s Lookout’ – sol 408-415, March 07, 2005

Spirit’s focus on sols 408 through 412 was the spectacular panorama from “Larry’s Lookout.” After completing that 4-sol effort, Spirit rolled to a nearby rock target called “Watchtower” and began examining it with tools on the robotic arm.

Spirit is in excellent health. Skies are clearing of dust and Spirit’s solar panels are angled at a high northerly-tilt. So, as Mars approaches the spring season, Spirit has had ample power and a full battery at the start of each recent sol. Flash memory is also in good shape despite the large panorama acquired, thanks to good downlinks and data management.

Sol-by-sol summaries:

On sol 408, Spirit was unable to uplink due to a communications transmitter failure.

Sol 409 was a repeat plan of sol 408, and Spirit drove 2.7 meters (8.9 feet) to Larry’s Lookout.

Sols 410 and 411 were the first of four days of using the panoramic camera to acquire frames for a panorama from Larry’s Lookout.

On sols 412 and 413, Spirit continued acquiring the panorama and also made observations with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

On sol 414, Spirit moved slightly to put Watchtower into the work volume for the robotic arm.

On sol 415, Spirit brushed the dust off of an area on Watchtower with the rock abrasion tool and started an overnight integration with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer.

Sol 415 ended on March 4, 2005.

Spirit’s current total odometry is 4,161 meters (2.59 miles).