Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater at the 'Spirit of St. Louis' crater near the entrance of 'Marathon Valley.'
The Earth-Mars Solar Conjunction command moratorium and communication blackout has just ended.
Telemetry is again being received from the Opportunity and the rover is in good health. Normal tactical planning has resumed with the Sol 4059 (June 25, 2015) plan.
As of Sol 4055 (June 21, 2015), the solar array energy production was 477 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.797 and a solar array dust factor of 0.644.
Total odometry is 26.33 miles (42.37 kilometers), more than a marathon.
Rover Remains in Solar Conjunction Communication Blackout
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 28, 2015 –
Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater at the 'Spirit of St. Louis' crater near the entrance of 'Marathon Valley.' We are inside the Earth-Mars Solar Conjunction command moratorium and communication blackout.
Solar conjunction is when the Sun comes between Earth and Mars, which occurs about once every 26 months. During this time there will be diminished communications to Opportunity.
Opportunity will be executing a basic set of activities from on-board sequences for the remainder of the solar conjunction period, including some Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) integration on a selected surface target.
As of the last returned telemetry on Sol 4042 (June 7, 2015), the solar array energy production was 490 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.768 and a solar array dust factor of 0.643.
Total odometry is 26.33 (42.37 kilometers), more than a marathon.
