Opportunity continues to be in the period of solar conjunction. Solar conjunction is the period when communications between Earth and Mars are disrupted because the Sun is directly in between the two planets.
The last communication with the rover was on Sol 2499 (Feb. 3, 2011), and all appears to be healthy.
Opportunity has a complete set of sequences on board to carry her through the conjunction period. Daily, multi-hour spectra will be collected by the moessbauer (MB) spectrometer which is positioned on the surface target Luis de Torres.
A single alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) atmospheric argon measurement will be performed on Sol 2504 (Feb. 8, 2011).
Just before the conjunction blackout, Opportunity collected a set of 13-filter panoramic camera (Pancam) images of surrounding targets.
As of Sol 2499 (Feb. 3, 2011), solar array energy production was 585 watt-hours with an unknown atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 1.07 and an estimated solar array dust factor of 0.678.
The increase in solar array energy from the last reporting period seems to suggest a solar array cleaning event.
Total odometry is 26,658.64 meters (26.66 kilometers, or 16.56 miles).
Spirit Remains Silent at Troy
No communication has been received from Spirit since Sol 2210 (March 22, 2010).
However, the solar conjunction communication moratorium has now begun and will extend until approximately Feb. 12,
The period of maximum solar insolation (energy production) for Spirit occurs around mid-March 2011.
Total odometry is unchanged at 7,730.50 meters (4.80 miles).
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