Mars Exploration Rovers Update - November 11, 2005

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

SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Coordinating with Hubble - sol 655-659,
Nov 11, 2005:

Spirit is healthy. The rover is out of restricted sols and has been
making excellent progress. On sol 655, Spirit drove 94.5 meters (310
feet)! The total drive distance from sol 655 to sol 659 was 126 meters
(413 feet). Spirit also took a large panoramic camera mosaic looking
back at the "East Basin" for a long-baseline stereo observation. Spirit
made other observations with the panoramic camera for coordinated
science with the Hubble Space Telescope.

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 655 (Nov. 5, 2005): Spirit drove 94.5 meters (310 feet) southeast
down onto "Lower Haskin Ridge." The maximum uphill slip was 10 percent
at the beginning of the drive. The maximum downhill slip was three
percent.

Sol 656: Spirit performed untargeted remote sensing and began
observations in coordination with Hubble Space Telescope. The
observations included a sky survey, an atmospheric opacity reading,
calibration target readings and a horizon survey.

Sol 657: Spirit took a targeted panoramic camera mosaic back at East
Basin for the second observation of the long-baseline stereo view.
Spirit also performed targeted stares with the miniature thermal
emission spectrometer.

Sol 658: Spirit drove 24 meters (79 feet) at a heading of 180 degrees,
with an average slip of three percent.

Sol 659: Spirit drove back 8 meters (26 feet) to an outcrop of interest
for inspecting with tools on the robotic arm.

As of the end of sol 659, (Nov. 10, 2005), Spirit has driven 5,273
meters (3.28 miles).

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OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Observing the Outcrops - sol 633-640, Nov 11, 2005:

Opportunity is healthy and is observing outcrops of "Erebus Crater."
The
rover used the tools on its robotic arm to examine an outcrop area
named
"Olympia."

Sol Summaries:

Sol 633 (Nov. 4, 2005): Opportunity took microscopic images of target
"Kalavrita" before using the rock abrasion tool to grind the surface
off
of the target. After the grind, the rover took microscopic images of
the
exposed interior and began using the Moessbauer spectrometer on the
target.

Sol 634: The rover examined Kalavrita with the Moesssbauer spectrometer
during the day and with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer at night.

Sol 635: The Moessbauer spectrometer resumed an integration at
Kalavrita.

Sol 636: Opportunity successfully used the miniature thermal emission
spectrometer for the first time since sol 609. Extra precautions were
taken by the operations team to allow quick recovery in the case of a
reset.

Sol 637: Tasks were integration with the Moessbauer spectrometer and
remote sensing with the panoramic camera.

Sol 638: Opportunity used the microscopic imager, the rock abrasion
tool's brush, and the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer at a target
dubbed "Ziakas."

Sol 639: Opportunity drove approximately 6 meters (about 20 feet) to a
cluster of cobbles.

Sol 640 (Nov. 11, 2005): The rover conducted untargeted remote sensing.

Looking ahead: Sols 641 to 643 are planned as a robotic-arm campaign on
a cobble target called "Agrafa."

As of sol 639 (Nov. 10, 2005), Opportunity had driven 6,424 meters
(3.99
miles).