SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Finally Reaches a Potential Winter Haven - sol 803-811, Apr 14, 2006:
Spirit is basking in the sun, relatively speaking, on a 10.8-degree, north-facing slope in Gusev Crater on Mars. After turning away from the rover's previous heading toward "McCool Hill" last week, Spirit started driving toward a nearby area known as "Low Ridge Haven" and arrived there over the weekend. Because rover drivers were able to get Spirit to a place where the solar panels tilt more steeply toward the sun, the rover's power output increased by 50 to 60 watt-hours per sol (a sol is one day on Mars). That gives the rover enough energy for about one hour of daytime remote science.
So far in this location, Spirit has collected a 360-degree panorama with the navigation camera, a smaller panorama with the panoramic camera, two targeted observations with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer, and five targeted images with the panoramic camera. Spirit also collected data with instruments on the robotic arm, including the microscopic imager, the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, and the Mössbauer spectrometer. All the rock and soil targets in this area are being informally named after Antarctic research stations and explorers.
Sol-by-sol highlights:
Sol 803 (April 6, 2006): Spirit drove about 9 meters (30 feet) closer to "Low Ridge Haven," approaching a break in the north-facing slopes of the small outcrop.
Sol 804: Spirit recharged the batteries and conducted atmospheric remote sensing.
Sol 805: Spirit spent as much of the weekend as possible driving toward a north-facing slope to allow the rover's solar panels to soak up more energy from the sun. After advancing slightly more than 10 meters (33 feet), Spirit ended up in a nice, sunny spot, with a northerly tilt of 10.8 degrees.
Sol 806: Spirit recharged the batteries and used the panoramic camera to view the surrounding terrain from the new location reached by the sol 805 drive.
Sol 807: Spirit's weekend drive placed the rover at a potentially safe place to spend the winter on Mars. Activities included a "get fine attitude," a procedure completed every couple of weeks to correct any error in the rover's knowledge of its attitude relative to the sun. (Between updates, the rover uses the onboard computer to keep track of attitude changes, but error builds up in this measurement over time.) The rover also used the navigation camera and panoramic camera for additional and higher-resolution images of the terrain surrounding the current location.
Sol 808: Spirit observed rock targets called "Marambio" and "Orcadas" using the miniature thermal emission spectrometer and collected images of a target called "Maitri" using the panoramic camera.
Sol 809: Spirit deployed the robotic arm for the first time since the week of sols 769 to 772 (March 2 to March 5, 2006), when the rover conducted scientific observations near "Home Plate." Spirit acquired microscopic images of a target called "Halley" and completed an overnight analysis with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer. The rover also acquired panoramic-camera images of "Troll" and "Mirny."
Sols 810-811 (April 13-14, 2006): Plans for the weekend called for continued work on "Halley," including measurements with the Moessbauer spectrometer, and targeted remote sensing, including panoramic camera images of "Orcadas" and "Marambio."
Odometry:
As of sol 811 (April 14, 2006), Spirit's total odometry was 6,876.18 meters (4.27 miles).
