Spirit Checking Korolev

Spirit is healthy and continues to make progress on its winter science campaign. Spirit is finishing the "McMurdo mega-panorama" by acquiring touch-up images (dubbed "grout" by engineers). Spirit is nearly complete with the coverage of the ground around the rover.

Spirit continues making a series of atmospheric observations at the same time each day.

Spirit is collecting about 280 watt-hours of electrical power each sol from the rover's solar array (100 watt-hours is the amount of electricity needed to light one 100-watt bulb for one hour).

Sol-by-sol summaries:

Sol 929 (Aug. 14, 2006): Spirit studied a target called "Halley Brunt" with the panoramic camera and microscopic imager.

Sol 930: Spirit took a tau measurement, an observation during which the rover evaluates atmospheric opacity to estimate dust height.

Sol 931: Spirit took pictures with the panoramic camera of targets named "Korolev" and "McMurdo grout 10." Spirit also used the panoramic camera to take a tau measurement.

Sol 932 (Aug. 17, 2006): Spirit took a tau measurement with the panoramic camera, surveyed the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer, and took measurements of a target named "Vernadsky" along with a background stare with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Odometry:

As of sol 932 (Aug. 17, 2006), Spirit's total odometry remained at 6,876.18 meters (4.27 miles).

Copyright 2006 by Space Daily, Distributed by United Press International