Mars Exploration Rover Update - March 21, 2005

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html

SPIRIT UPDATE: Busy with the Robotic Arm - sol 422-429, March 21, 2005

After some accumulated dust was blown off of Spirit's solar panels on
sol 420 (March 9, 2005), the rover has been producing over 800
watt-hours of energy per sol, about twice as much as before the
solar-array cleaning event. All that extra power has allowed Spirit to
do a very aggressive scientific campaign at a soil patch dubbed "Paso
Robles 2" with the instruments on the robotic arm. The rover team
planned to wrap up the robotic arm work and send Spirit driving again
on
sol 431.

Between sols 416 and 418, the front hazard-avoidance cameras showed
signs of dust contamination. Images from sol 420 indicate that the left
front hazard-avoidance camera has been mostly cleaned off.

Sol-by-sol summaries:

On sol 421, Spirit drove and took images that caught a dust devil in
action!

On sols 422 and 423, Spirit collected atmospheric-science and other
remote-sensing observations. Spirit also performed a dust calibration
with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer.

On sol 424, Spirit drove to "Paso Robles2" and scuffed the surface with
its wheels.

On sols 425 and 426, Spirit made some remote-sensing observations. On
sol 426, Spirit also used the microscopic imager to take pictures of
"Big Clod" and "Bitty Clod." Spirit also studied a target informally
called "Paso Dark" with the Mossbauer spectrometer and a target called
"Paso Light" with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer.

On sol 427, Spirit used the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and the
Mossbauer spectrometer again on Paso Dark. Spirit also took pictures of
Paso Light and Paso Dark with the microscopic imager.

On sol 428, Spirit did targeted remote sensing and placed the alpha
particle X-ray spectrometer on "Ben's Clod" and the Mossbauer
spectrometer on Paso Light.

On sol 429 (March 18, 2005), Spirit swept the surface of Ben's Clod
with
the brush of the rock abrasion tool and took before-and-after shots of
the area with the microscopic imager. Spirit also completed a short
Mossbauer spectrometer reading on Paso Dark and an alpha particle X-ray
spectrometer reading on Ben's Clod.