Opportunity Surpasses 16 Miles of Driving

Opportunity Status for sol 2437-2444

Opportunity passed 26 kilometers (16 miles) of odometry as she approaches Santa Maria crater on her way to Endeavour crater. Santa Maria is an approximately 80-meter (262-foot) diameter crater that Opportunity will investigate before proceeding toward Endeavour.

Opportunity drove several times in the last week with drives on Sols 2438 (Dec. 2, 2010), 2441 (Dec. 5, 2010), 2442 (Dec. 6, 2010), 2443 (Dec. 7, 2010) and 2444 (Dec. 8, 2010), totaling over 560 meters (1837 feet). Recently, a morning Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) relay pass was added to the sequence plan for the rover. This will off-load even more data from the rover, permitting more frequent drives, as driving generates many data products.

As of Sol 2444 (Dec. 8, 2010), solar array energy production was 617 watt-hours with a slightly elevated atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.736 and a solar array dust factor of 0.660.

Total odometry is 26,120.98 meters (26.12 kilometers, or 16.23 miles).