Mars Exploration Rover Update - December 29, 2005

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

SPIRIT UPDATE: On 'Horseback' - sol 695-702, Dec 29, 2005:

Spirit is healthy. The rover drove 8.3 meters (27 feet) and perfectly
positioned itself in front of a rock informally named "Comanche."
Spirit
performed work with the instruments on the robotic arm on a target
called "Horseback" at Comanche. The rock abrasion tool's brush was only
partially successful in making contact with Horseback, so the team
moved
the robotic arm to different target informally called "Palomino."
Spirit
performed a successful brushing and continued with more investigations
using the other instruments on the robotic arm.

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 695 (Dec. 17, 2005): Spirit performed targeted remote sensing.

Sol 696: Spirit performed targeted remote sensing.

Sol 697: Spirit approached "Comanche Spur" by driving 8.3 meters (27
feet).

Sol 698: Spirit took a picture of the target Horseback on Comanche Spur
with the microscopic imager. The plan was for Spirit then to brush the
target area with the rock abrasion tool's brush and afterwards perform
observations with the Moessbauer spectrometer and microscopic imager.
The
brushing did not occur due to the rock abrasion tool losing contact
with
the target.

Sol 699: Spirit performed a short Moessbauer spectrometer integration
and
tried again to use the rock abrasion tool's brush on Horseback. The
brush only cleared off roughly 20 percent of the target.

Sol 700: Spirit successfully brushed another area on Comanche, called
Palomino. After the brushing, Spirit took pictures of Palomino using
the
microscopic imager. Spirit also studied Palomino with the alpha
particle
X-ray spectrometer.

Sol 701: Spirit studied Palomino with the Moessbauer spectrometer and
performed remote sensing.

Sol 702 (Dec. 24, 2005): Spirit studied Palomino with the Moessbauer
spectrometer and performed remote sensing again.

As of sol 700 (Dec. 22, 2005), Spirit's total odometry is 5,673 meters
(3.53 miles).