. Energy News .




.
MARSDAILY
Opportunity at One of its Two Winter Spots
by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 19, 2011

File image.

Opportunity is positioned at one of the candidate sites for winter, on the north end of "Cape York" on the rim of Endeavour Crater. There are two candidate sites for winter havens that indicate sufficient northerly tilt. Opportunity is at one of those spots.

The rover is tilted about 16 degrees to the north for favorable solar energy production.

Opportunity is continuing the in-situ (contact) investigation of the outcrop at this location.

On Sols 2798 (Dec. 7, 2011), and 2800 (Dec. 9, 2011), Opportunity conducted a set of investigations using the instruments on the end of the robotic arm on the surface target called "Boesmankop."

Each involved collecting Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaics followed by an overnight placement of the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS).

On Sol 2801 (Dec. 10, 2011), the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) was used to brush the surface target and collect another MI mosaic.

The rover also took a panoramic camera (Pancam) image, followed by the placement of the APXS for an overnight integration.

Wanting to investigate a rock clast on the outcrop, the rover performed a small 9-degree counter-clockwise turn on Sol 2803 (Dec. 12, 2011).

This positions that rock clast within reach of Opportunity's robotic arm. The plan ahead is an in-situ investigation of the rock clast with the instruments on the end of the robotic arm.

As of Sol 2804 (Dec. 13, 2011), solar array energy production was 302 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.714 and a solar array dust factor of 0.486.

Related Links
Mars Rovers at JPL
Mars Rovers at Cornell
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more




.
.
Get Our Free Newsletters Via Email
...
Buy Advertising Editorial Enquiries




.

. Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle



MARSDAILY
Opportunity to Stop and Study Rocks
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 12, 2011
Opportunity is currently exploring one of the candidate sites for winter, on the north end of "Cape York" on the rim of Endeavour Crater. On Sol 2792 (Dec. 1, 2011), the rover bumped backwards about 9 feet (2.7 meters) to better view a rock outcrop and to increase the rover tilt toward the Sun. The northerly tilt, favorable for energy production, increased from 6 degrees to 9 degrees. ... read more


MARSDAILY
SMOS detects freezing soil as winter takes grip

NASA Gears Up for Airborne Study of Earth's Radiation Balance

Study Shows More Shrubbery in a Warming World

Astrium awarded Sentinel 5 Precursor contract

MARSDAILY
Lockheed Martin Delivers GPS 3 Pathfinder Satellite to Denver on Schedule

Galileo in tune as first navigation signal transmitted to Earth

Glonass satnav system targets Latin America and India

Lightweight GPS tags help research track animals of all sizes

MARSDAILY
The case of the dying aspens

Little headway in Durban on deforestation: experts

Climate change blamed for dead trees in Africa

Ecologists fume as Brazil Senate OKs forestry reform

MARSDAILY
Chemicals and biofuel from wood biomass

Turning Pig Manure into Oil Fosters Sustainability in a Crowded World

US Biofuel Camelina Production Set to Soar

Switchgrass as bioenergy feedstock

MARSDAILY
US Solar Energy Industry Sets Record for Installations

IHS iSuppli Teardown Analysis of Solar Inverter

Solar power development in US Southwest could threaten wildlife

Renewable Energy to be Fastest Growing Market in Malaysia

MARSDAILY
More than twenty UK wind farm sites adopt Natural Power's ForeSite wind forecasting service

Iowa State engineers study how hills, nearby turbines affect wind energy production

Lawrence Livermore ramps up wind energy research

Campbell Scientific selects ZephIR wind lidar technology for US wind market

MARSDAILY
Gloucester, Yanzhou in giant $8bn coal play: report

Four trapped miners found dead in China: Govt

Five rescued from collapsed Chinese mine

Coal mine collapse traps 12 in China

MARSDAILY
Chinese villagers threaten government office march

China villagers warned against protest march

China starts football corruption trials

Police in China fire tear-gas, beat protesters: witnesses


.

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement