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TOPIC: The Opportunity rover
Blobrana


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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Injured Shoulder Joint Back in the Game - sol 1525-1532, May 08-15, 2008:

Like an athlete with a shoulder injury whose arm is folded in a sling, NASA's Mars rover Opportunity has been unable to move its robotic shoulder joint for weeks. Early Wednesday (May 14, 2008), after a regimen of electrical stimulation and heat, the rover finally moved its shoulder joint and swung its robotic arm back to the front. Opportunity accomplished this after surviving four Earth years, two Martian winters, a major dust storm, and more than 1,500 day-to-night temperature cycles on the red planet.
The story of Opportunity's shoulder begins way back on Sol 2 (Jan. 25, 2004), the rover's second day on Mars. That's when engineers discovered that the heater on the shoulder azimuth joint, which controls side-to-side motion of the robotic arm, was stuck in the "on" position. Closer investigation revealed that the on-off switch had probably failed during assembly, test, and launch operations on Earth. Fortunately for Opportunity, the rover was equipped with a built-in safety mechanism called a "T-stat box" (thermostatic switch) that provided protection against overheating. When the shoulder azimuth joint, also known as Joint 1, got too hot, the T-stat switch automatically opened and temporarily disabled the heater. When the joint got cold again, the T-stat closed. As a result, the heater stayed on all night but not all day.
The safety mechanism worked until Opportunity approached the first winter on Mars. As the Sun began to retreat lower in the sky and solar power levels dropped, it became clear that Opportunity would not be able to keep the batteries charged with a heater draining power all night long. On Sol 122 (May 28, 2004), rover operators began using a procedure known as "deep sleep," during which Opportunity disconnected the batteries at night. Deep sleep prevented the stuck heater (and everything else on the rover except the clock and the battery heaters) from drawing power. When the Sun came up the next morning and sunlight began hitting the solar arrays, the batteries automatically reconnected, the robotic arm became operational, the shoulder joint warmed up, and the thermostatic switch opened, disabling the heater. As a result, the shoulder joint was extremely hot during the day and extremely cold at night. Such huge temperature swings, which tend to make electric motors wear out faster, were taking place every sol.
This strategy worked for Opportunity until Sol 654 (Nov. 25, 2005), when the Joint-1 azimuth motor stalled because of increased electrical resistance. Rover operators responded by delivering higher-than-normal current to the motor. This approach also worked, though Joint 1 continued to stall periodically. Typically, the rover's handlers simply tried again the next sol and the joint worked. They determined that the Joint-1 motor stalls were most likely due to damage caused by the extreme temperature cycles the joint experienced during deep sleep. As a precaution, they started keeping the robotic arm out in front of the rover overnight, rather than stowing it underneath the rover deck, where it would be virtually unusable in the event of a Joint-1 motor failure. They stowed the arm only while driving and unstowed it immediately at the end of each drive.
This strategy worked for Opportunity until Sol 1502 (April 15, 2008), when the motor stalled at the beginning of an unstowing operation at the end of a drive, when the arm was still tucked underneath the rover. The motor continued to stall on all subsequent attempts, sol after sol. Engineers performed tests at various times of day to measure electrical resistance. They found that the resistance was lowest (essentially normal) when the joint was at its warmest -- in the morning, following deep sleep, after the heater had been on for several hours, and just before the T-stat opened. They decided to try to unstow the arm one more time under these conditions.
At 08:30 Mars time on Sol 1531 (May 14, 2008), they allowed Opportunity to direct as much current as possible to the warm, joint-1 azimuth motor in order to get the robotic arm into a usable position, in front of the rover. It worked.
Because Opportunity will likely never again stow the robotic arm, engineers are working on a strategy for driving the rover safely with the arm deployed in front. In this way, Opportunity will continue to explore Mars, having weathered yet another challenge!

Sol-by-sol summary:
In addition to receiving morning instructions directly from Earth via the rover's high-gain antenna, relaying data back to Earth via the UHF antenna on the Mars Odyssey orbiter, and measuring atmospheric dust with the panoramic camera, Opportunity completed the following activities:

Sol 1525 (May 8, 2008): Opportunity used the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer to measure argon gas in the Martian atmosphere and used the navigation camera to acquire time-lapse movie frames in search of clouds.

Sol 1526: Opportunity continued to study the Martian atmosphere.

Sol 1527: Opportunity made atmospheric measurements.

Sol 1528: Opportunity continued to make atmospheric measurements.

Sol 1529: Opportunity conducted tests of electrical resistance in the robotic arm and acquired full-colour images, with all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of soil. The rover began acquiring parts 3 and 4 of the so-called "Garrels" panorama, a sweeping view of Cape Verde and the slope where the rover will exit Victoria Crater.

Sol 1530: In the morning, Opportunity completed work on parts 3 and 4 of the Garrels panorama. The rover took spot images of the sky for calibration purposes with the panoramic camera and acquired six time-lapse movie frames in search of overhead clouds.

Sol 1531: Opportunity moved Joint 1 to an unstowed position and acquired part 5 of the Garrels panorama. The rover measured argon gas in the atmosphere with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer and surveyed the sky at high Sun with the panoramic camera.

Sol 1532 (May 15, 2008): Opportunity moved robotic arm joints 2 through 5 to an unstowed position and acquired part 6 of the Garrels panorama. The rover monitored atmospheric dust with the navigation camera and monitored dust on the rover mast. Opportunity acquired a movie in search of clouds with the navigation camera and took spot images of the sky for calibration purposes with the panoramic camera.

Odometry:
As of sol 1532 (May 15, 2008), Opportunity's total odometry remained at 11,689.53 metres.

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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Opportunity Gearing Up for Attempt to Move Robotic Arm - sol 1518-1524, May 01-07, 2008:

After completing a battery of diagnostic tests, engineers planned to attempt to move Opportunity's shoulder azimuth joint, also known as Joint 1, during the coming week.
Tests during the past week included electrical resistance tests at the warmest and coldest times of day to determine if a persistent stall in the joint was dependent on temperature. Test results indicated that electrical resistance in the shoulder motor at the warmest time of day approached normal levels.
A series of mild dust-cleaning events gave power levels a slight boost. The dust factor -- a measure of the amount of sunlight actually penetrating dust on the solar panels -- was about 73 percent. As recently as Martian day, or sol, 1486 (March 29, 2008), the dust factor was only 69 percent. Average solar-array energy during the past week was nearly 385 watt-hours, almost enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours.
Opportunity conducted a variety of remote-sensing activities, including photometric observations at varying times of day, soil observations, horizon surveys, imaging of a cobble known as "Jin" and wheel trenches informally named "Harland" and "Williams," atmospheric observations, and measurements of argon gas in the Martian atmosphere.
Opportunity is healthy and all subsystems are operating as expected, with the exception of the robotic arm.

Sol-by-sol summary:
In addition to receiving morning instructions directly from Earth via the rover's high-gain antenna, relaying data back to Earth via the UHF antenna on the Mars Odyssey orbiter, and measuring atmospheric dust with the panoramic camera, Opportunity completed the following activities:

Sol 1518 (May 1, 2008): Opportunity acquired a six-frame movie of navigation-camera images in search of clouds. After sending data to Odyssey, the rover went into a deep sleep.

Sol 1519: Opportunity acquired colour images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of Jin, a cobble upslope near one edge of the "Lyell" outcrop. The rover went into a mini-deep sleep.

Sol 1520: The rover scanned the sky for clouds by acquiring six, time-lapse movie frames with the navigation camera. Later, Opportunity acquired another six-frame, time-lapse movie of potential clouds passing overhead. After communicating with Odyssey, Opportunity measured atmospheric dust at sunset with the panoramic camera and measured atmospheric argon with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer.

Sol 1521: Opportunity acquired a mosaic of images with the panoramic camera, took six movie frames in search of clouds with the navigation camera, surveyed the early-morning sky with the panoramic camera, and monitored dust accumulation on the rover mast. Opportunity took colour images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of Harland, followed by a mosaic of images.

Sol 1522: In addition to assessing atmospheric dust at different times of day, Opportunity produced a six-frame movie in search of clouds with the navigation camera.

Sol 1523: In the morning, Opportunity took colour images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of Williams and the surrounding soil. Opportunity ran tests of the shoulder joint at cold and warm temperatures. Using the navigation camera, the rover created a time-lapse movie in search of clouds and took images of the sky, known as "sky flats," for calibration purposes.

Sol 1524 (May 7, 2008): Opportunity surveyed the sky at low sun. The rover measured atmospheric argon with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer and took thumbnail images of the sky for calibration purposes with the panoramic camera. Opportunity created a movie in search of clouds with the navigation camera.

Odometry:
As of sol 1524 (May 7, 2008), Opportunity's total odometry remained at 11,689.53 metres.

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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Opportunity Investigates Arthritic Joint - sol 1505-1510, April 18-23, 2008:

Opportunity is healthy and all subsystems are performing as expected, with the exception of the Instrument Deployment Device (the robotic arm). Power has improved slightly during the last week, primarily as the result of a better state of charge in the batteries. Given the recent difficulties with the robotic arm, the rover hasn't been using the batteries as much as usual. Energy has averaged about 380 watt-hours (almost enough energy to light four 100-watt bulbs for one hour).
Tau, a measure of direct sunlight (and thus of dust in the atmosphere) has been fairly steady at 0.62, meaning that about half the sunlight streaming through the atmosphere of Mars reaches the ground. The rest is either absorbed or scattered. Like direct sunlight, scattered light generates power. Absorbed sunlight does not.
Opportunity's dust factor has been fairly steady at 0.7, meaning that about 70 percent of the sunlight hitting the solar arrays penetrates the dust layer to make electricity.
In mid-may (May 12, 2008), Mars will reach aphelion, its farthest point from the Sun. At that time it will be 249 million kilometres  from the Sun, about 1.6 times farther from the Sun than Earth ever gets.
On June 25, 2008, Opportunity will enter the winter solstice. This is the date when the Sun is lowest in the sky that marks the official start of the six-Earth-month Martian winter.
Ever since sol 654 (Nov. 25, 2005), Opportunity has experienced occasional motor stalls in the shoulder joint of the robotic arm known as Joint 1. Joint 1 is the shoulder azimuth joint, the one that swings the arm out from the rover, and left or right in front of the rover. The motor has worked long past its expected lifetime.
Apparently random in occurrence, the stalls have been accompanied by step increases in electrical resistance, which is consistent with a broken winding within the motor. (The rover's motors have bifilar coils, consisting of two parallel windings. If one wire breaks, a second coiled wire provides some torque to turn the motor. Torque is a force that causes rotation about an axis. With one wire broken, there is less torque during part of each rotation.)
Each motor has magnetic detents -- permanent magnets that pull the rotor into a fixed position to prevent it from rotating when necessary. The detents can also prevent the motor from turning when engineers want it to turn. At that point, it takes a bit more torque to start the motor turning. If a broken coil happens to align with a detent, the remaining, unbroken coil has a hard time starting to rotate. This can result in a stall.
Opportunity's handlers have been living with this for nearly 900 Martian days and until now, they have overcome every stall simply by trying the motion again.
To minimise the chance of getting "stuck" in an unfavourable position where Joint 1 is permanently stalled, the rover's handlers keep the robotic arm deployed (that is, unfolded and suspended in front of the rover) except when driving. This approach is known as the "Stow/Go/Unstow" strategy. When rover drivers want to drive, they stow the arm (that is, fold it up with the elbow in horizontal position and the fist against the chest). After the drive, they promptly unstow the arm (move the elbow down and the turret, or fist, up).
On Sol 1502 (April 15, 2008), during a routine post-drive unstow, Opportunity experienced a Joint 1 stall that was quantitatively different from prior stalls. Tests since then have continued to result in stalls with significantly higher electrical resistance five to 10 times greater than previously measured values. Motor currents have been very low, consistent with higher electrical resistance.
Engineers are conducting diagnostic tests of Joint 1 and other components. So far, every attempt to move Joint 1 has failed, producing at most a single motor revolution. The joint seems to stall in the same spot each time. The rover's handlers are pursuing a slow and steady approach of fully understanding the problem and possibly devising strategies for living with or working around the issue. They already know that even if the joint is permanently stalled, Opportunity can still do some science observations with instruments on the robotic arm.

Sol-by-sol summary:
In addition to receiving morning instructions directly from Earth via the rover's high-gain antenna, relaying data back to Earth via the UHF antenna on the Mars Odyssey orbiter, and measuring atmospheric dust with the panoramic camera, Opportunity completed the following activities:

Sol 1505 (April 18, 2008): Opportunity ran diagnostic tests of the robotic arm.

Sol 1506: Opportunity acquired six time-lapse movie frames in search of morning clouds with the navigation camera and surveyed the horizon with the panoramic camera. Later, the rover acquired a 3-by-1 panel of images with the navigation camera.

Sol 1507: Opportunity took morning spot images of the sky for calibration purposes with the panoramic camera. The rover ran more diagnostic tests of the robotic arm.

Sol 1508: Opportunity began work on a 360-degree, two-tier panorama of lossless-compression (highly detailed and precise) images with the navigation camera.

Sol 1509: Opportunity spent most of the day characterising dust in the atmosphere.

Sol 1510 (April 23, 2008): Opportunity acquired full-colour images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of one of the two trenches made by the rover's wheels, dubbed "Williams." At 11:05 a.m. local Mars time, Opportunity acquired the left-hand view of a mosaic of panoramic-camera images. The rover acquired part 2 of the lossless-compression, 360-degree panorama with the navigation camera and surveyed the sky at high Sun with the panoramic camera. The following morning, Opportunity was to acquire full-colour images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of the other wheel trench, dubbed "Harland."

Odometry:
As of sol 1510 (April 10, 2008), Opportunity's total odometry was 11,689.53 metres.

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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:  Opportunity Reverses Path - sol 1498-1504, April 10-17, 2008:

During the past week, Opportunity celebrated another major milestone by reaching 1,500 sols (Martian days) of continuous exploration of the red planet!
Meanwhile, Opportunity continued to execute a "toe dip" strategy of driving forward a short distance and backing up again to characterise the sandy terrain beneath the rover's wheels. While driving toward the promontory known as "Cape Verde" in the rim of "Victoria Crater," Opportunity experienced wheel slippage of more than 90 percent. The rover also experienced high tilt during the backward part of the drive. Following a series of adjustments to both slippage and tilt limits, Opportunity's front wheels had begun to dig into the terrain. At that point, the rover's handlers decided to concentrate on driving backward to extract the rover's front wheels and prevent them from digging further into the sand. Making slow and steady progress, as of sol 1502 (April 15, 2008), Opportunity had driven backward 24 centimetres  with no errors, giving rover drivers hope that the rover would soon be out of the sand.
Opportunity's handlers implemented a "Stow/Go/Unstow" strategy of unstowing the robotic arm after each day's drive to avoid having the arm in the stow position during thermal cycling (overnight temperature changes). This freed the arm for full use of its scientific tools in the event of a cold-induced motor failure. On sol 1502 (April 15, 2008), while attempting to unstow the arm, Opportunity experienced a stall in the joint that controls shoulder position. The nature of the stall appeared to be different from previous stalls in the same joint (known as Joint 1). On sol 1504 (April 17, 2008), the rover's handlers directed Opportunity to run a diagnostic test of movement in the robotic arm. While moving the joint, Opportunity experienced another stall. Investigation of this anomaly is expected to continue for the remainder of this week.
Opportunity is healthy and all subsystems are performing as expected, with the exception of the investigation of the robotic arm. Immediate plans call for continued focus on getting out of the sand and resolving the robotic-arm anomaly.

Sol-by-sol summary:
In addition to receiving morning instructions directly from Earth via the rover's high-gain antenna, sending data back to Earth via the UHF antenna on the Mars Odyssey orbiter, and measuring atmospheric dust with the panoramic camera, Opportunity completed the following activities:

Sol 1498 (April 10, 2008): Opportunity surveyed the horizon and the sky and measured atmospheric dust at sunset with the panoramic camera. After transmitting data to Odyssey, the rover measured atmospheric argon with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer.

Sol 1499: In the early part of the sol, Opportunity took thumbnail images of the sky with the panoramic camera and shot a 4-frame movie of potential clouds with the navigation camera. The rover stowed the robotic arm, drove toward Cape Verde, acquired post-drive images with the hazard-avoidance cameras, and unstowed the robotic arm.

Sol 1500: Opportunity acquired a full-colour, 2-by-1 panel of images of Cape Verde using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera.

Sol 1501: Opportunity recharged the battery.

Sol 1502: Opportunity started the day by monitoring dust on the panoramic-camera mast assembly and measuring atmospheric dust. The rover stowed the robotic arm, drove toward Cape Verde, acquired images of the wheel cleats in the rover's tracks to assess traction and other post-drive images with the hazard-avoidance cameras. Opportunity unstowed the robotic arm before sending data to Odyssey and going to sleep.

Sol 1503: In the morning, Opportunity surveyed the horizon with the panoramic camera. The rover acquired microscopic images of the robotic arm to document changes during the diagnostic test of the arm's ability to move.

Sol 1504 (April 17, 2008): In the morning, Opportunity acquired full-colour images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of trenches created by the rover's wheels that have been informally named "Williams" and "Harland." The rover took spot images of the sky for calibration purposes with the panoramic camera and ran more diagnostic tests of the robotic arm. Opportunity took thumbnail images of the sky with the panoramic camera. After relaying data to Odyssey, the rover used the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer to measure argon gas in the atmosphere. Plans for the next morning called for the rover to take more thumbnail images of the sky with the panoramic camera.

Odometry:
As of sol 1502 (April 15, 2008), Opportunity's total odometry was 11,691.49 metres.

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A small motor in the robotic arm of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity that began stalling occasionally more than two years ago has become more troublesome recently.
Rover engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., are diagnosing why the motor, one of five in the robotic arm, stalled on April 14 after much less motion that day than in the case of several earlier stalls. They are also examining whether the motor can be used and assessing the impact on Opportunity's work if the motor were no longer usable.

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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Driving on Mars Is Hard - sol 1491-1497, April 03-09, 2008:

This week Opportunity demonstrated the challenges of operating a vehicle on the surface of another planet. The rover is en route to Cape Verde to acquire high-resolution images of the layering in the rocks. To get there, Opportunity must cross some sandy stretches. Before entering the sandy areas, Opportunity will need to stop and take a "toe dip'' -- that is, drive forward a short distance and back out again -- to characterise the terrain.
On Sol 1491 (April 3, 2008), Opportunity performed a 4-wheel toe dip, driving forward until the front four wheels were on the sand and backing up again.
As part of ensuring vehicle safety, rover drivers set conservative limits on what the rover may do. For example, if Opportunity exceeds the maximum amount of wheel slippage or the maximum amount of tilt allowed, the rover must abort the drive. This gives the rover's handlers a chance to further evaluate the situation and make changes to the drive plan on subsequent sols (Martian days). The toe dips provide valuable insight into the nature of the terrain Opportunity is likely to encounter on the way to Cape Verde.
Opportunity is healthy and all subsystems are performing as expected.

Sol-by-sol summary:
In addition to receiving morning instructions directly from Earth via the rover's high-gain antenna, sending data back to Earth via the UHF antenna on the Mars Odyssey orbiter, and measuring atmospheric dust with the panoramic camera, Opportunity completed the following activities:

Sol 1491 (April 3, 2008): Before the day's drive, Opportunity took panoramic-camera and navigation-camera images of a previously made wheel scuff. The rover stowed the robotic arm and drove toward Cape Verde, taking hazard avoidance-camera images before and after ending the drive. Opportunity unstowed the robotic arm and acquired post-drive images with the navigation and panoramic cameras.

Sol 1492: In the early part of the sol, Opportunity took spot images of the sky for calibration purposes and surveyed the horizon with the panoramic camera.

Sol 1493: Opportunity monitored dust on the panoramic-camera mast assembly, stowed the robotic arm, and continued driving toward Cape Verde. Just before and after ending the drive, Opportunity took images of the area close to the rover with the hazard-avoidance cameras. The rover unstowed the robotic arm, took post-drive images with the navigation camera, and after communicating with Odyssey, obtained measurements of argon gas in the Martian atmosphere using the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer.

Sol 1494: Opportunity took thumbnail images of the sky with the panoramic camera and six movie frames in search of clouds with the navigation camera.

Sol 1495: Opportunity took spot images of the sky for calibration purposes with the panoramic camera, stowed the robotic arm, and drove toward Cape Verde. Before and after ending the drive, the rover took images with the hazard-avoidance cameras. Opportunity unstowed the robotic arm (known to engineers as the instrument deployment device) and acquired post-drive images with the navigation camera.

Sol 1496: In the morning, Opportunity took spot images of the sky for calibration purposes with the panoramic camera and shot a 4-frame movie in search of clouds with the navigation camera. Opportunity stowed the robotic arm and drove backward onto bedrock to extract its wheels from the sand before proceeding toward Cape Verde. Before and after ending the day's drive, the rover took images with the hazard-avoidance cameras. The rover then unstowed the robotic arm.

Sol 1497 (April 9, 2008): In the morning, Opportunity took thumbnail images of the sky with the panoramic camera and shot another 4-frame movie in search of clouds with the navigation camera. The rover acquired diagnostic images with the hazard-avoidance cameras and a mosaic of images of the work volume reachable by the robotic arm with the panoramic camera. When the evening Sun was low, Opportunity surveyed the sky with the panoramic camera. Plans transmitted to the rover for the following morning called for another 6-frame movie of potential clouds in the Martian sky.

Odometry:
As of sol 1497 (April 9, 2008), Opportunity's total odometry was 11,689.21 metres.

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Image of Duck Bay taken by the Opportunity rover on March 31, 2008 (Sol 1487)
 
OppSol1487
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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Completes Dental Checkup - sol 1478-1483, March 21-26, 2008:

Opportunity is wrapping up its scientific investigation of the outcrop exposure known as "Gilbert_A" at the bottom of the alcove known as "Duck Bay," the lowest traversable portion of the crater's interior. Duck Bay is a recess in the walls of "Victoria Crater."
Opportunity performed a dental self-examination of teeth in the rover's rock abrasion tool on Sol 1482 (March 25, 2008). Images of the grinding bit, taken with the hazard avoidance cameras, showed no appreciable wear since the last measurement on sol 1443 (Feb. 14, 2008). In fact, the rover's handlers saw a slight increase rather than decrease in bit height, highlighting the uncertainty inherent in the bit measurement technique. Indeed, the calculated 32 percent of grinding material left is subject to a 39-percent relative error, resulting in an absolute error of 12 percent (based on a statistical calculation, 0.32 * 0.39 = 12). Unfortunately, there is no clear way to reduce the error in bit measurement.
Opportunity is healthy and all subsystems are operating as expected. Energy is currently around 360 watt-hours (100 watts is the amount of energy needed to light a 100-watt bulb for 1 hour). Tau measurement of opacity caused by atmospheric dust is 0.68 (a Tau of zero would correspond to a perfectly clear sky). The dust factor is 0.679, meaning that about 68 percent of sunlight reaching the solar arrays penetrates the coating of dust to generate electricity.
Next week, Opportunity is scheduled to drive toward the promontory known as "Cape Verde" for a better look at the rocks exposed in the crater walls.

Sol-by-sol summary:
In addition to receiving morning instructions directly from Earth via the rover's high-gain antenna, relaying data to Earth each evening via the UHF antenna on the Mars Odyssey orbiter, and completing atmospheric observations that included measuring atmospheric dust with the panoramic camera, monitoring dust accumulation on the rover mast, and scanning the sky for clouds with the navigation camera, Opportunity completed the following activities:

Sol 1478 (March 21, 2008): Opportunity spent 12 hours acquiring data from Gilbert with the Mössbauer spectrometer. The rover completed a survey at high Sun with the panoramic camera and went into a mini-deep sleep.

Sol 1479: Opportunity spent 12 hours acquiring data from Gilbert with the Mössbauer spectrometer. The rover took thumbnail images of the sky for calibration purposes with the panoramic camera and went into a mini-deep sleep.

Sol 1480: Opportunity spent 5 hours acquiring data from Gilbert with the Mössbauer spectrometer and took full-colour images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of the backslope to the left of the Gilbert area. The rover acquired images of the rock target dubbed "Lyell Oxford" and surveyed the horizon with the panoramic camera. The rover went into a deep sleep.

Sol 1481: Opportunity spent 7 hours acquiring data from Gilbert with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer and took images of Lyell Oxford with the panoramic camera. The rover took six movie frames spaced at regular intervals in search of clouds with the navigation camera and went into a mini-deep sleep.

Sol 1482: Opportunity took a microscopic image of the hole ground into Gilbert with the rock abrasion tool and completed a survey of the grinding bit on the tool. Opportunity spent 8 hours integrating data from Gilbert with the Mössbauer spectrometer and went into a mini-deep sleep.

Sol 1483 (March 26, 2008): Opportunity spent 7 hours integrating data from Gilbert with the Mössbauer spectrometer and went into a deep sleep.

Odometry:
As of sol 1483 (March 26, 2008), Opportunity's total odometry was 11,671.23 metres.

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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Finds More Evidence of Ancient Water - sol 1463-1470, March 5-13, 2008:

Opportunity has completed scientific studies of the undisturbed surface of a rock target informally named "Dorsal" in the "Gilbert" rock layer inside "Victoria Crater." Dorsal is a protruding fin of rock created by minerals deposited in cracks that remained in place long after the original rock eroded away because they were more resistant to weathering.
Data collected with the Mössbauer and alpha-particle X-ray spectrometers show that the fins in Gilbert contain large quantities of the mineral hematite. This iron-bearing mineral is also abundant in the frequently occurring, round concretions known as "blueberries" that are believed to have formed in water. Scientists have been looking for such pristine fins ever since Opportunity first noticed them back in "Eagle Crater," where the rover landed more than four years ago.
Next, Opportunity will grind into the rock surface at a point informally named "Gilbert_A" to measure the chemical composition of the rock's interior using the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer. Along the way, the rover has been getting close-up views of the fin with the microscopic imager.

Sol-by-sol summary:
In addition to receiving instructions directly from Earth via the rover's high-gain antenna, relaying data to Earth via the UHF antenna on the Mars Odyssey orbiter, and measuring atmospheric dust with the panoramic camera, Opportunity completed the following activities:

Sol 1463 (March 5, 2008): Opportunity ran diagnostic tests of the robotic arm and acquired a 1-by-1-by-5 stack of microscopic images, with some extras thrown in for good measure, of Dorsal. The rover placed the Mössbauer spectrometer on a specific target informally named "Dorsal Tail" and spent about 10 hours collecting data with the instrument. Opportunity began work on a super-resolution mosaic of images of the rim of Victoria Crater known as the "rimshot panorama," acquiring part 1 of the mosaic using the panoramic camera. The rover acquired full-colour images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of a cobble nicknamed "Jin" on the slope above the rover.

Sol 1464: Opportunity restarted the Mössbauer spectrometer and continued its investigation of Dorsal Tail. The rover acquired images with the navigation camera as well as part 2 of the super-resolution rimshot panorama, which will encompass the crater rim from "Cape Verde" to "Cabo Frio." Opportunity participated in a UHF relay of data with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as part of a panoramic-camera data compression test. The rover monitored dust on the panoramic-camera mast assembly and took super-resolution images of a rock target informally named "Lyell Oxford."

Sol 1465: Opportunity restarted the Mössbauer spectrometer for continued investigation of Dorsal Tail and acquired part 3 of the rimshot pan. Opportunity participated in another UHF relay with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to test compression of panoramic camera data. The rover measured argon gas in the Martian atmosphere with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer and used the panoramic camera to survey the horizon and take spot images of the sky for calibration purposes.

Sol 1466: Opportunity restarted the Mössbauer spectrometer and continued work on Dorsal Tail. The rover acquired full-colour frames, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of a disturbed slope.

Sol 1467: Opportunity restarted the Mössbauer spectrometer and continued its investigation of Dorsal Tail. The rover completed work on part 4 of the super-resolution rimshot pan.

Sol 1468: Opportunity acquired a 1-by-1-by-3 stack of microscopic images of Dorsal Tail and a 1-by-1-by-3 stack of microscopic images of a rock exposure nicknamed "Dorsal New." The rover placed the Mössbauer spectrometer on Dorsal New, took calibration images known as "sky flats" with the navigation camera, and acquired part 5 of the super-resolution rimshot panorama. Opportunity acquired data with the Mössbauer spectrometer and acquired part 6 of the super-resolution rimshot panorama.

Sol 1469: Opportunity restarted the Mössbauer spectrometer and began to investigate Dorsal Tail with the instrument. The rover acquired parts 7 and 8 of the rimshot panorama.

Sol 1470 (March 13, 2008): Opportunity restarted the Mössbauer spectrometer and resumed studies of Dorsal Tail with the instrument. The rover acquired part 9 of the rimshot panorama and also used the panoramic camera to take spot images and thumbnail images of the sky.

Odometry:
As of sol 1469 (March 12, 2008), Opportunity's total odometry was 11,671.23 meters.

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Image of Cabo Verde taken by the Opportunity rover at Gibson layer in Duck Bay on Sol 1465.

OPPSol 1465
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