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Investigating 'Coal Island' Rock Outcrop

by Staff Writers Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 11, 2013 JPL

Opportunity is at the base of 'Solander Point' on the rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover is investigating a scarp (rock outcrop), called 'Coal Island.'

On Sol 3412 (Aug. 29, 2013), Opportunity approached a surface target, with a 180-degree turn-in-place, followed by a 6-foot (1.7-meter) bump to place a target of interest within reach of the robotic arm instruments. The rover began a survey of the scarp with multi-spectral Panoramic Camera (Pancam) imaging.

On Sol 3415 (Sept. 1, 2013), the rover used the robotic arm to collect a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic of the surface target, called 'Dibbler' and place the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) on the target for multi-sol integration. Opportunity continued the multi-spectral imaging survey of the scarp with more Pancam images over three sols.

As of Sol 3416 (Sept. 2, 2013), the solar array energy production was 365 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.640 and a solar array dust factor of 0.522.

Total odometry is 23.77 miles (38.26 kilometers).

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