Mars Exploration Rover Update - June 23, 2004

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

SPIRIT UPDATE: 'Pot-of-Gold' Revealed - sol 161-163,
June 23, 2004

Spirit currently sits at the base of the "Columbia Hills"
in an area called the "Hank Moore Hollow." This area has
a collection of intriguing rocks on its rim, one of
which, "Pot-of-Gold," will be the first target for
scientists' observations.

Spirit used the microscopic imager to get an up close
view of Pot-of-Gold on sol 161, but unfortunately, the
images were out of focus. Rover planners attribute the
blurry shots to a lower than expected rock contact
prior to the imaging sequence. Spirit did successfully
acquire Mossbauer observations of Pot-of-Gold on this sol.

On sol 162, Spirit was commanded to retake the
microscopic images of Pot-of-Gold and do extensive
observations with the Mossbauer and alpha particle
X-ray spectrometer instruments. The microscopic images
were successfully obtained, but a positioning fault of
the instrument deployment device prevented the Mossbauer
and alpha particle X-ray spectrometer observations from
executing.

Spirit successfully completed the work with its
instrument deployment device on sol 163, and took some
additional microscopic images of Pot-of-Gold.