Daily Updates - May 18, 2004
Opportunity Status at end of sol 112

Opportunity is healthy, but feeling a bit sluggish today. The rover's 40-meter (131 feet) traverse along the southern edge of "Endurance Crater" on sol 111, and a sol 112 error with a Deep Space Network command transmission have resulted in a low battery state of charge.

The sol 111 drive put Opportunity on an 8-degree slope that tilted the rover away from the Sun and limited the amount of direct sunlight that could reach the solar panels.

To help the battery recover to its normal state of charge, rover planners had built a sol 112 plan that deleted two of the three UHF windows. Unfortunately, a Deep Space Network configuration error prevented the command load from reaching Opportunity on sol 112 and, as expected in such cases, the rover executed the onboard run-out sequence, which included an hour of remote sensing and the three on-board UHF communication windows.

Sol 113 will be a sol for sleep and recharging for Opportunity. On sol 114, the rover will do some limited remote sensing in the morning, but will generally take it easy over the next few sols in order to fully charge the batteries. The limited activity over the next few sols will focus on moving towards the Endurance Crater rim and a new position for panoramic camera imaging.

Opportunity Daily Update Archive