Opportunity rover timeline for 2004 February
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week starting 2004 February 2
'February 2 (Sol 9 ends 2004-02-02 21:05 UTC) - (Press images (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20040202a.html))
Opportunity successfully deployed its "arm". All instruments and motors were tested and photographed. Everything checked out ready for science use.
During a news conference, Joe Melko, mechanical system engineer for the robot arm, reported "This was a great confirmation to the team that they had done an extraordinary job. The arm is probably the most complex mechanism on the rover."
A full 360 degree PanCam picture was revealed, taken during Sol 2. Jeff Johnson, member of the science team from USGS, explained: "This wonderful 360 panorama is in stereo and provides us with a real sense of you are there at the site, gives us a feeling for this bowl-shaped depression that we are now in."
February 3 (Sol 10 ends 2004-02-03 21:44 UTC) -
The instruments on the "arm" of Opportunity started a full investigation of a patch of soil in front of the rover. Pictures with the microscopic imager (MI) were taken, and a first collection of Moessbauer spectrum data was started to run over night.
February 4 (Sol 11 ends 2004-02-04 22:24 UTC) - (Press images (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20040204a.html))
Opportunity sent data from the previous activities to Earth, which included the Moessbauer spectrum that had accumulated data for 24 hours. Then the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer was moved into place to collect data for a long period of time.
First results and pictures from the soil investigation were presented during a news conference.
There are strikingly spherical pebbles among the mix of particles under the microscope. "There are features in this soil unlike anything ever seen on Mars before," said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the science instruments on the two Mars Exploration Rovers.
"The variety of shapes and colors indicates we're having particles brought in from a variety of sources," said Dr. Ken Herkenhoff of the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Team, Flagstaff, Ariz.
The shapes by themselves don't reveal the particles' origin with certainty. "A number of straightforward geological processes can yield round shapes," said Dr. Hap McSween, a rover science team member from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They include accretion under water, but apparent pores in the particles make alternative possibilities of meteor impacts or volcanic eruptions more likely origins, he said.
February 5 (Sol 12 ends 2004-02-05 23:04 UTC)
A drive of about 3 meters (10 ft) was successfully completed on this Sol, after the "arm" was picked up and stowed. Opportunity covered about half the distance to the bedrock in front of her. In fact, the engineers commanded Opportunity to do a little "dance", making three arcs: Two to the left and one to the right. This was testing her overall maneuverability. Opportunity then did a 30-degree turn in place, and proceeded straight for 1.8 meters (5.9 feet).
February 6 (Sol 13 ends 2004-02-06 23:43 UTC) - (Press Images (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20040206a.html))
The rover attempted to drive close to a rock in the outcrop (nicknamed Snout) for investigation. After a drive of about 1.6 m (5.2 ft) she stopped about 300 mm (1 ft) short of her target. It seems that Opportunity slipped a bit driving up the slope of the depression.
Mission manager Matt Wallace gave a status report during a press conference: "Today, we sequenced a drive to approach the right-hand side of the outcrop, a target that is named Snout. The drive was about a 1.6-meter drive. We executed the drive - we came up a little bit short on Snout. And so we will complete that approach tomorrow." He also commented: "We are not entirely sure why we fell short, but we are pretty sure what we are seeing is soil slippage."
February 7 (Sol 14 ends 2004-02-08 00:23 UTC)
Opportunity investigated the soil in front of her after last sol's drive. She then drove the distance necessary to be able to take a look at Snout.
February 8 (Sol 15 ends 2004-02-09 01:02 UTC)
First observations of an outcrop rock were performed. The rock was re-named Stone Mountain, after being called Snout for a while. PanCam and Microscopic images were acquired, and measurements with the other instrument were started (Mössbauer and APXS). Comments were made that the outcrop showed signs of the same sort of spherical grains detected in the soil a few days earlier.
week starting 2004 February 9
February 9 (Sol 16 ends 2004-02-10 01:42 UTC) - (Press Images (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20040209a.html))MER-B-Descent_Stage-med.jpg
Early in the day, JPL released photography from the rover (mentioned in the news yesterday) showing Opportunity's backshield and parachute, which lie about 440m to the southwest. Also released was imagery from orbit showing Opportunity, the backshield and parachute, the heatshield, and nearby creaters.
Discussion of last night's (Sol 16) activity indicated that Opportunity had driven about 4 meters, surveying the bedrock outcrop now called "Opportunity Ledge".
In further discussion of the spherical grains noted yesterday in the bedrock, principal investigator Steve Squyres compared them to "blueberries in a muffin".
The photography of the plain outside Opportunity's crater revealed enough landmarks that sightlines could be drawn to nearby crater edges and compared with orbital imagery. Consequently the lander's longitude and latitude to within a few tens of meters are now known.
Opportunity appears to have experienced slips during 50 percent of a drive on sol 15, so for sol 16, engineers played a lighthearted wake-up call: Paul Simon's "Slip Sliding Away." Regardless of the loose soil, Opportunity made it across 4 meters (12 feet) today and is positioned to continue observing parts of the outcrop up close tomorrow. In coming sols, Opportunity will "shoot and scoot," meaning the rover will shoot pictures of the terrain and acquire new scientific measurements of the rocks, then scoot up, down, and across the inside of the crater.
February 10 (Sol 17)
A new area of the outcrop rocks was investigated by Opportunity, dubbed Bravo. This area is part of a plan for a "base map" of the whole bedrock section. Mission planners have called the three main sections "Alpha", "Bravo", and "Charlie".
February 11 Sol 17 and Sol 18 - (Press Images (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20040211a.html))
On its 17th sol on Mars, which ended at 6:21 p.m. Tuesday, PST, Opportunity completed its study of the target area named Bravo. Opportunity is on a three-day tour of the outcrop, taking pictures and measurements to build what geologists call a "base map," which will help them decide what specific spots they want to target for more thorough investigation with their science instruments. A press release today shows an overview of the bedrock area to be studied over the next sols.
Opportunity had a couple of little hiccups on sol 18, February 11, which ends at 7:01 p.m. Wednesday, PST. The wrist on the real rover arm would not point as far vertically as the engineering rover's wrist did on Earth during a model test the night before. Because of this, the arm on Mars did not stow, and the rover did not move on to waypoint Charlie. The rover also automatically stopped use of the mast due to the fact that she believed a requested pointing position was in an area beyond its limits. Engineers solved both problems on sol 18. All systems are go for Opportunity to complete the tour of the outcrop by heading to outpost Charlie on sol 19, Thursday, February 12.
The flight team at JPL chose 'Here I Go Again' by Whitesnake as Opportunitys wake-up music.
During Opportunitys 20th sol on Mars, which ended at 8:20 p.m. Friday, PST, the rover told mission controllers "no." Opportunity received commands in the morning to use the microscopic imager at the end of its arm, but the onboard computer judged the requested arm movement to be unacceptable and refused the command.
This was the proper precaution for the rover to take. The arm maneuver had been tested with a simulation at JPL, and engineers subsequently worked on a solution to make the ground testing more accurately predict the rover computer's response to the particular arm-movement conditions involved.
However, with the arm left extended, rather than stowed, after the arm-movement command was refused, the rover also could not make the drive that had been planned for the sol. That drive, to a site selected for soil examination and trenching, was postponed until sol 21, which ends at 9:00 p.m. Saturday, PST.
Observations by the panoramic camera and miniature thermal emission spectrometer were completed successfully on sol 20. The sol's wake-up music was "I Like Dirt," by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and "Pioneers of Mars," by Karen Linsley and Lloyd Landa.
Opportunity completed her longest drive so far -- about 9 meters or 30 feet -- during her 21st sol on Mars, which ended at 9 p.m. Saturday, PST. The rover finished the drive with its first U-turn, arriving at a location selected for the mission's first trenching operation. Plans call for examining the hematite-rich surface of this location, called "Hematite Slope," during sol 22, then spinning one wheel to dig below the surface on sol 23.
Controllers at JPL chose "Send Me on My Way," by Rusted Root, and "Desert Drive," by Tangerine Dream, as Opportunitys wake-up music for sol 21. The rover worked a long day. She awoke earlier than usual for an early morning observation with her panoramic camera. She made additional observations from her new location just before finishing the drive, and again after finishing the last bit of the drive. Then she was woken after dark to make the mission's first nighttime observations with her infrared sensor, the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.
week starting 2004 February 16
Opportunity spent much of sol 22, which ended at 9:39 p.m. Sunday, PST, making a thorough "before" examination of the spot selected for digging a ditch the next sol.
Also, Opportunity completed upward-looking observations before, during and after Mars Global Surveyor flew overhead looking down. Opportunity and Global Surveyor have similar infrared sensing instruments: the miniature thermal emission spectrometer on the rover and the (full-size) thermal emission spectrometer on the orbiter. Coordinated observations of looking up through the atmosphere with one while looking down through the atmosphere with the other were designed to provide a more complete atmospheric profile than either could do alone.
Sol 22's wake-up music was "Invisible Touch" by Genesis. In preparation for digging, Opportunity examined the trenching site with her microscopic imager, her Moessbauer spectrometer and, overnight, her alpha particle X-ray spectrometer.
The plan for sol 23, which will end at 10:19 p.m. Monday, PST, is to dig a trench with alternating forward and backward spinning of Opportunitys right front wheel in order to see what's below the surface. Inspections of the resulting hole are planned for sol 24 and the morning of sol 25.
February 17 - (Press Images (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20040217a.html))
Opportunity successfully dug the trench The rover will now use instruments on the arm to characterize the soil in the trench.
During a press conference Jeffrey Biesiadecki, a rover planner at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said: "Yesterday we dug a nice big hole on Mars." The rover alternately pushed soil forward and backward out of the trench with her right front wheel while other wheels held the rover in place. The rover turned slightly between bouts of digging to widen the hole. "We took a patient, gentle approach to digging," he said. The process lasted a total of 22 minutes.
On sol 24, which ended at 10:59 p.m. Tuesday, PST, Opportunity used science instruments on her robotic arm to examine the hole she dug with its right front wheel on sol 23. The trench is about 500 mm (20 inches) long by 200 mm (8 inches) wide by 100 mm (4 inches) deep.
The plan for sol 25, which will end at 11:38 p.m. Wednesday, PST, is to continue examining the walls and floor of the trench for clues about the history of Mars. Opportunity will also peek at her right front wheel with the panoramic camera to see what materials got stuck on the wheel from the trenching activity. Then, Opportunity will use the panoramic camera high on the rover's mast to check out a former piece of herself -- the heat shield, which is sitting off in the distance. The heat shield protected the rover during cruise and during descent through the atmosphere on Jan. 4, 2004, PST.
Sol 24's wake-up music was "Trench Town Rock" by Bob Marley.
February 19 - (Press Images (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20040219a.html))
On sol 25, which ended at 11:38 p.m. Wednesday, February 18, PST, Opportunity used the microscopic imager and alpha particle x-ray spectrometer to study the chemical makeup of the wall and floor area within the rover-made trench. Due to time constraints, Opportunity was unable to take a picture of the heat shield in the distance.
Sol 25's wake-up music was "Fascination" by Human League.
The plan for sol 26, which will end at 12:18 a.m. Friday, PST, is to back away from the trench, obtain one grand finale Moessbauer spectrometer reading of the trench, pick up and stow the rover arm, then turn and drive 9 meters (30 feet) to the El Capitan area. Opportunity will make a few intentional "stutter steps" on its way to El Capitan, stopping to take a few front hazard avoidance camera images and navigation camera images to plan for final approach and robotic arm activities.
Opportunity will stop a couple of meters (about 6 or 7 feet) short of El Capitan to take images with its panoramic camera and gather science measurements with its miniature thermal emission spectrometer. On sol 27, Opportunity will make a short, closer approach to El Capitan to poise itself to use the rock abrasion tool and other instruments on the rover arm.
On sol 26, which ended at 12:18 a.m. Friday, February 19, PST, Opportunity successfully obtained one final Moessbauer spectrometer reading of the trench, stowed the rover arm, and drove 15 meters (50 feet) to the "El Capitan" area. The drive was Opportunity's longest yet and required the vehicle and planners to skirt the trench and avoid the lander.
The plan for sol 27, which will end at 12:57 a.m. Saturday, PST, is to first "supersize" the measurements of the "El Capitan" area with the panoramic camera, miniature thermal emission spectrometer, and microscopic imager. The mineralogy and geology teams have requested a minimum of three hours worth of "super resolution" and "super spectral" observations for the science instruments to get the most comprehensive coverage of this interesting site, which has varying textures and layers of dirt and rock.
After a short siesta in the early afternoon, Opportunity will drive 300 mm (12 inches) to sneak a bit closer to the rocks in "El Capitan" to get ready for the rock abrasion tool to do its work. After the drive, the Opportunity team plans to take a picture of the martian sky with the panoramic camera and miniature thermal emission spectrometer. If time permits, Opportunity will attempt to aim its cameras toward the heat shield in the far distance.
Over the weekend, Opportunity plans to find the perfect spot to use the abrasion tool and set it loose to grind away on "El Capitan," which will be the first use of the rock abrasion tool by Opportunity.
On sol 28, which ended at 1:38 a.m. Sunday, PST, Opportunity moved its arm repeatedly to make close-up inspections the "El Capitan" part of the street-curb-sized outcrop in the crater where the rover is working. Opportunity took 46 pictures with its microscope, examining several locations on "El Capitan" at a range of focal distances. It also placed its Moessbauer spectrometer and its alpha particle X-ray spectrometer on the rock target to assess what minerals and what elements are present.
Controllers chose the song "I am a Rock," performed by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, as Opportunity's sol 28 wake-up music. The sol's activities included observations by the miniature thermal emission spectrometer and the panoramic camera, as well as the use of the tools on the arm.
The arm's complex maneuvers totaled 25 minutes of actual arm movement. Rover planners' success in accomplishing them drew a round of applause in the Mission Support Area at JPL during the afternoon downlink from Mars.
During the martian night, early on sol 29, Opportunity woke up and moved its arm again to switch from the Moessbauer spectrometer to the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer. Additional close-up inspections are planned for later in sol 29, which ends at 2:17 a.m. Monday. Plans for sol 30 feature the use of the rock abrasion tool to grind through the surface at one target on "El Capitan."
week starting 2004 February 23
MERB_ElCap_14-jb-01-rat-holes-B041R1_br.jpg
On sol 30, which ended at 2:56 a.m. Tuesday, February 24, Opportunity performed its first rock abrasion tool operation on a rock target known as 'McKittrick Middle Rat' at the El Capitan site inside the crater. The tool shaved the rock over a period of two hours, grinding into a total depth of about 4 mm (0.16 inches).
The auspicious day began with the song 'Rock'n Me' by Steve Miller and some miniature thermal emission spectrometer sky surveys and sky stares to study the atmosphere. After completing these activities, Opportunity took a short siesta to recharge its batteries. The rover has been doing a lot of science work at night, and the season on Mars is changing to winter, so the rover has less energy to work with than it did earlier in the mission. The martian days are getting shorter and the sun angle is not allowing either rover to power up the solar panels as much as in the past.
Opportunity woke up from its nap at 11:30 Local Solar Time on Mars to run through the series of commands required to retract the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and close its doors; take several microscopic images of another nearby rock abrasion tool target called 'Guadalupe;' flip the wrist; take a microscopic image of "McKittrick Middle Rat;" and place the rock abrasion tool on its target to run at 13:00 Local Solar Time.
After the abrasion tool was retracted, a series of microscopic images of the scene were taken, and the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer was successfully placed into the abrasion tool's hole late in the day.
Some additional panoramic camera, miniature thermal emission spectrometer readings, and hazard avoidance camera imagery was completed through the day.
The plan for sol 31, which will end at 3:36 a.m. Wednesday, February 25, is to continue getting long Mössbauer readings of the rock abrasion tool hole and to prepare the tool for more work again on sol 33 or 34.
February 25 On sol 31, which ended at 3:36 a.m. Wednesday, February 25, Opportunity awoke to "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and his Comets. At 1:00 a.m. Local Solar Time, Opportunity sent data to Earth via the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter and then sent another whopping 145.6 megabits of data at 3:30 a.m. Local Solar Time via the Mars Odyssey orbiter.
During the morning hours, Opportunity collected data with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer for five hours and took measurements with its miniature thermal emission spectrometer from inside its newly formed hole that was created on sol 30 by the rock abrasion tool. Later, Opportunity retracted and closed the door of the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and swapped the Moessbauer spectrometer into the hole made by the abrasion tool for a leisurely 24-hour observation.
Opportunity also updated its "attitude knowledge," which fine-tunes the rover's information about its exact location and position on Mars. Updating the attitude knowledge allows the rover to more accurately point the high gain antenna toward Earth, which increases the communications capabilities. The attitude adjustment also enables scientists and engineers to point instruments onboard Opportunity more precisely at targets of interest, such as particular rocks and patches of soil. To adjust the attitude knowledge, engineers have the rover turn the panoramic camera to the Sun and watch the Sun travel across the sky for 15 minutes. The rover is then smart enough to take the Sun movement data collected from the panoramic camera to calculate its own location in the universe…..on Mars. The rover gathers attitude knowledge errors over time as it drives and uses the robotic arm extensively, but it only needs an attitude adjustment about once a week or after driving long distances.
Around 12:15 pm Local Solar Time, Opportunity went to sleep to recharge its batteries from its strenuous rock abrasion tool activities on sol 30, but reawakened briefly at 4 p.m. Local Solar Time and again in the evening to send data to Earth via additional overflights by the Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey orbiters.
The plan for sol 32, which ends at 4:15 a.m. Thursday, February 26, is to take another unique set of Moessbauer measurements to look at the rover-created hole in a different spectrum. The goal is to then crawl slightly forward on sol 33 to position Opportunity to use the rock abrasion tool on the upper target of the El Capitan/McKittrick area.
On sol 32, which ended at 4:15 a.m. Thursday, February 26, Opportunity awoke to "Let It Be" by the Beatles. Opportunity's day was focused on getting a second Mössbauer instrument measurement of the hole created by the rock abrasion tool at the "McKittrick" rock site. The Mössbauer can detect spectral signatures of different iron-bearing minerals.
The data from the first Mössbauer spectrum of "McKittrick" was received on Earth Wednesday afternoon. The alpha proton X-ray spectrometer data from yestersol at this target was retransmitted to Earth again Wednesday to get missing packets of data that were not received during the first data communications relay. Opportunity also snapped pictures of the rock areas named "Maya" and "Jericho" with the panoramic camera and took miniature thermal emission spectrometer measurements of the sky and "El Capitan" throughout the sol.
The amount of power Opportunity is able to generate continues to dwindle due to the decreasing amount of sunlight (energy) reaching the solar panels during the martian seasonal transition to winter. Because of this, the engineers are adjusting the rover's daily communications activities. To minimize power use for communications sessions, engineers began a new "receive only" morning direct-from-earth communication relay. This lower-power communication mode was successful. Opportunity will continue with this approach to maximize the available power for driving and science activities as Mars moves farther away from Earth and the Sun in its elliptical orbit.
In conjunction with the morning communications session change, engineers added a second afternoon Mars Odyssey orbiter relay pass, which uses less power in transmitting data volume than direct-to-Earth communication. This additional Odyssey pass more than compensated for the elimination of the morning direct-to-Earth downlink. Engineers also continue to effectively use rover "naps" throughout the day to maximize energy savings.
The plan for sol 33, which ends at 4:55 a.m. Friday, February 27, is to take a very short trip of 100 to 200 mm (4 to 8 inches) towards the next rock abrasion tool target site, "Guadalupe."
February 27 On sol 33, which ended at 4:55 a.m. Friday, February 27, Opportunity reached its second rock abrasion tool target site, and it's ready to take the next bite of Mars.
Opportunity woke up a little late on sol 33 to conserve energy. The wake-up song was 'Blueberry Hill' by Fats Domino, in honor of the hill in front of the rover.
Opportunity took an early afternoon 360-degree panorama and an extra observation of the area to the east with its navigation camera, while the Moessbauer instrument completed the measurements it began on sol 32.
The microscopic imager also took three sets of observations of the hole created by the rock abrasion tool on sol 30. Opportunity later took stereo images of the rock area named "Maya" and took pictures of an area called "Half-Dome." Both the panoramic camera and the miniature thermal emission spectrometer observed the sky.
In between science measurements, Opportunity stowed its instrument arm and drove a 150 mm (6 inch) "bump" to reach its next rock abrasion tool target. Final shutdown was at 2:37 Local Solar Time, with a brief wakeup at 4:10 Local Solar Time to transmit data to the Mars Odyssey orbiter as it flew over the rover.
The plan for the weekend is to grind into the upper part of "El Capitan" dubbed "Guadalupe" and to take extensive measurements of the new hole using the microscopic imager and two spectrometers.
Opportunity remains healthy and active. During its 34th sol on Mars, which ended at 5:34 a.m. Saturday, PST, the rover used its rock abrasion tool for the second time. It ground the surface off a patch of rock at a site called "Guadalupe" in the outcrop the rover has been examining. The rover looked at the patch with its microscope both before and after the grinding session. Then it placed its Moessbauer spectrometer against the newly exposed interior material of the rock for a long reading of data that scientists use to identify what iron-containing minerals are present in the target.
Opportunity also used its miniature thermal emission spectrometer during the sol to assess the composition of an outcrop feature dubbed "Shoemaker Wall." It took images of "Guadalupe" with its panoramic camera before and after the use of the rock abrasion tool.
Wake-up music played in the mission support area at JPL for sol 34 was "Dig In," by Lenny Kravitz.
For sol 35, ending at 6:15 a.m. Sunday, PST, plans call for continuing use of tools on the robotic arm to examine the rock interior exposed by the "Guadalupe" grind.
February 29 During its 35th sol on Mars, ending at 6:14 a.m. Sunday, PST, Opportunity manipulated the microscopic imager at the tip of its arm for eight observations of the fine textures of an outcrop-rock target called "Guadalupe." The observations include frames to be used for developing stereo and color views.
Opportunity also used its Moessbauer spectrometer and, after an overnight switch, its alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to assess the composition of the interior material of "Guadalupe" exposed yestersol by a grinding session with the rock abrasion tool.
The panoramic camera up on the rover's mast captured a new view toward the eastern horizon beyond the crater where Opportunity is working, for use in evaluating potential drive directions after the rover leaves the crater.
Jimmy Cliff's "I Can See Clearly Now," was played in the mission support area at JPL as Opportunity's sol 35 wake-up music.
Plans for sol 36, ending at 6:54 a.m. Monday, PST, called for finishing the close-up inspection of "Guadalupe," then backing up enough to give the panoramic camera and miniature emission spectrometer good views of the area where the rock interior has been exposed by grinding.