Daily Updates - March 18, 2004
Opportunity Status at end of sol 52

Sol 52, which ended at 5:27 p.m. PST on March 17, was a full day for Opportunity, punctuated by short naps. The rover arm was deployed on the first of five targets in the rover's current soil survey. The soil was examined by all the rover's spectrometers and the panoramic camera.

In the afternoon, the rover moved about 6 meters (about 20 feet) to the second soil target, performing several remote observations along the way. Closing out the sol, Opportunity's alpha particle X-ray spectrometer began to inspect the capture magnets on the front of the rover. Clues about Mars' watery history are present even in the smallest dust grains that settle on these magnet arrays.

Images of Opportunity's "scuff" experiment on the rock "Carousel" reached Earth this sol. Scientists are currently examining the results.

In honor of Opportunity's 52nd sol on Mars, engineers chose "Rock Lobster" by the B52s as a wake-up tune.

In the coming sols, the rover will travel to the final targets in the soil survey.

Opportunity Daily Update Archive