Mars Rover Opportunity Update: April 15-23, 2015

[baa...@earthlink.net]

http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status.html#opportunity

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Rover on the Lookout for Dust Devils! - sols 3990-3998,
April 15, 2015-April 23, 2015:

Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater next to the "Spirit
of St. Louis" crater near the entrance of "Marathon Valley."

The rover had been conducting an in-situ (contact) science campaign at
the outcrop named "Thermopylae."

On Sol 3991 (April 16, 2015), the robotic arm was used to collect a Microscopic
Imager (MI) mosaic and then place the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer
(APXS) for a multi-hour integration. A small Navigation Camera (Navcam)
mosaic was also collected on that sol. On the next sol, a new Navcam Dust
Devil Watch was sequenced. On Sol 3993 (April 18, 2015), further MI mosaics
were collected followed by another APXS placement. For the next sol, the
APXS was offset to an adjacent target for another integration.

However, during the preparation for the afternoon UHF relay pass the rover
experienced a reset, stopping all sequences. The cause of the reset is
unknown and still under investigation. Further, an amnesia event occurred
later that night for the wakeup to start Deep Sleep. The rover was restored
to master sequence control on Sol 3996 (April 21, 2015). On Sol 3998 (April
23, 2015), Opportunity drove a little over 26 feet (8 meters) to reach
the rim of the Spirit of St. Louis crater.

As of Sol 3998, the solar array energy production was 620 watt-hours with
an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.766 and a solar array dust factor of
0.731.

Total odometry is 26.25 miles (42.24 kilometers), more than a marathon.