Opportunity is continuing her exploration of "Perseverance Valley" on the west rim of Endeavour Crater.

The rover has moved along the north fork of the local flow channel. Continuing the extensive collection of stereo imagery, the rover used the Navigation Cameras (Navcams) to collect two tiers of a wide panorama.

Then on the next sol, the robotic arm (also called the Instrument Deployment Device, or IDD) performed an offset placement of the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) to a new target location. The Panoramic Camera (Pancam) was also used to collect several frames of a color stereo panorama.

Over the next four sols, Opportunity collected a combination of Navcam and color Pancam stereo panoramas and some targeted multi-spectral Pancam images.

On Sol 4984 (Jan. 30, 2018), the IDD was used again to reach other surface targets and collect Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaics and place the APXS for a multi-hour integration. Energy production has continued to improve due to dust cleaning of the solar arrays.

As of Sol 4984 (Jan. 30, 2018), the solar array energy production was an increased 665 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.427 and an improved solar array dust factor of 0.847.

Total odometry is 28.02 miles (45.09 kilometers).

Related Links
Opportunity Archive at JPL
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more

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Opportunity prepares software update as Sol 5000 approaches
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 29, 2018
Opportunity is continuing her winter exploration of "Perseverance Valley" on the west rim of Endeavour Crater from a location in the north fork of the local flow channel. Color imaging of light toned bedrock and nearby streaked rocks occupied the first few sols. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) argon integration was done on Sol 4974 (Jan. 20, 2018). A short 3 foot (1 meter) drive on the next sol positioned the rover at the light toned outcrop and some missing images were retaken. ... read more