From Newsgroup: sci.space.news


http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status.html#opportunity

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Reaches 12 Years on Mars! - sols 4263-4268, January 20, 2016-January 25, 2016:

Opportunity is exploring 'Marathon Valley' on the rim of Endeavour crater.
The rover is up on north-facing slopes for improved solar array energy production.

The rover is conducting an in-situ (contact) science campaign on the surface target 'Joseph Collin' (informally named for members of the Lewis and
Clark expedition).

The target appears as a curious, unconsolidated pile of coarse, dark grains. On Sol 4263 (Jan. 20, 2016), Opportunity began two sols of investigation
using the robotic arm instruments. On each sol, extensive Microscopic
Imager (MI) mosaics were collected. Each was followed with a unique placement of the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) for elemental identification. Over the next 3 days (sols), the rover attitude was updated and a series
of Panoramic Camera (Pancam) and Navigation Camera (Navcam) panoramas
were collected.

On Sol 4268 (Jan. 25, 2016), the final work on this in-situ target was completed with the raising of the robotic arm off the target and the collection

of some documentary imagery. The rover is now set to drive away from this
site towards new targets up-slope from the current location.

As of Sol 4268 (Jan. 25, 2016), the solar array energy production was
469 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.478 and a solar
array dust factor of 0.691.

Total odometry is 26.50 miles (42.65 kilometers), more than a marathon.

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