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Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 11, 2011 As the New (Earth) Year begins, Opportunity is continuing to explore the 80-meter (262-foot) diameter Santa Maria crater. The exploration campaign consists of wide-baseline imaging surveys with both navigation camera (Navcam) and panoramic camera (Pancam) from several points around the rim of the crater. Because of the holiday period on Earth, the rover performed several sols of remote sensing imagery on Sols 2465, 2466 and 2467 (Dec. 30, Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, 2011). On the next sol, Opportunity drove over 56 meters (184 feet) south then southeast, moving counter clockwise around the crater to set up for the next wide-baseline stereo imaging. On Sols 2469 (Jan. 3, 2011) and 2470 (Jan. 4, 2011), more remote sensing imagery was collected along with an alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) measurement of atmospheric argon. After the completion of the image survey from the current location, the rover will continue to move further around the crater for more imaging, and eventually positioning herself near the southeast portion of the rim for solar conjunction (starting late-January) for long-term in situ (contact) science with the moessbauer (MB) spectrometer on putative hydrated sulfate minerals. As of Sol 2470 (Jan. 4, 2011), solar array energy production was 584 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.692 and a solar array dust factor of 0.6205. Total odometry is 26,562.05 meters (26.56 kilometers, or 16.50 miles).
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NASA tries to awaken mars roverPasadena, Calif. (UPI) Jan 6, 2011 NASA says it is trying to re-establish communication with its stuck Mars rover Spirit after months of silence as temperatures rise during the planet's spring. Spirit rover has been dormant since March 22, 2010, but mission controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., are hoping it survived the harsh martian winter and will wake up any day now, SPACE.com reported Thu ... read more |
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