SKY NIGHTLY
← MARS  |  Home MARS

Opportunity Heads to 'Marathon Valley'

by Staff Writers Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 11, 2014 JPL

Opportunity is moving south along the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards 'Marathon Valley,' a notch observed from orbit to have an abundant clay mineral signature.

On Sol 3739 (July 31, 2014), the rover made an approach to a surface target of interest with a 26-feet (8-meter) drive. At the end of the sol, Opportunity collected some Panoramic Camera (Pancam) imagery and performed an atmospheric argon measurement with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS).

On Sol 3741 (Aug. 2, 2014), the rover began two sols of in-situ (contact) science using the robotic arm instruments.

On the first sol Opportunity collected a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic of the target 'Fairweather,' and then placed the APXS for a multi-hour integration. On the next sol, the observations were repeated on a second, offset target.

With the in-situ work complete, the rover headed south again on Sol 3744 (Aug. 5, 2014), driving over 282 feet (86 meters). The drive was followed with the usual post-drive Navigation Camera (Navcam) and Pancam panoramas to support the next drive.

As of Sol 3744 (Aug. 5, 2014), the solar array energy production was 686 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.872 and a solar array dust factor of 0.802.

Total odometry is 25.09 miles (40.38 kilometers).

Buy Advertising About Us Editorial & Other Enquiries Privacy statement
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, is Copyright 1995-2026 Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principles for news reporting and research purposes.