Opportunity is located in Perseverance Valley on the west rim of Endeavour crater and has resumed normal science activities post-conjunction.
Taking advantage of the position through conjunction, on Sol 4809 (August 3, 2017) the rover began two sols of robotic arm activity collecting a set of Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaics of the target called "Parral" and then a set of Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) offset placements on the same.
Additionally, the rover collected more Navcam and Pancam panoramas at this same location, filling in some of the science lost due to the reset during solar conjunction.
Since winter is now approaching, energy levels are dropping. Sol 4812 (August 6, 2017) was used as a recharge sol for the rover with no activity other than short wake ups for communication.
On Sol 4813 (August 7, 2017), Opportunity drove for the first time since conjunction, however the drive stopped short after 11 feet (3.5 meters) when the rover encountered some difficult terrain while turning.
The next sol was used to bump the rover about 4 feet (1.2 meters) to get it away from the challenging rocky outcrop.
As of Sol 4814 (August 8, 2017), the solar array energy production was 319 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.723 and a solar array dust factor of 0.531.
Total odometry is 27.95 miles (44.97 kilometers).
Opportunity will spend three weeks at current location due to Solar Conjunction
Opportunity is in "Perseverance Valley" on the west rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover has arrived at the location within the valley where she will spend the approximately three-week solar conjunction period.
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.
