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PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE - To MARS with MER
Daily Updates - April 14, 2004
Opportunity Status at end of sol 79
Waking up to the Ramones' "Teenage Lobotomy," Opportunity began operating with new flight software on its 79th sol on Mars, which ended at 12:16 p.m. PDT on April 14.
Yestersol, the rover took daytime readings with its Moessbauer spectrometer on "Jeff's Choice" -- a soil target in the tailings of the trench that the vehicle dug on Sol 73. This sol, the rover performed a free-air integration of its alpha particle X-ray spectrometer. This procedure measures the effect of the Moessbauer's radiation source on the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer's sensor, allowing the science team to subtract out the Moessbauer influence for an accurate calibration.
In the coming sols, Opportunity will examine the trench with its microscopic imager and alpha particle X-ray spectrometer.
