Opportunity has been investigating the rock known as “Marquette Island”. The rock abrasion tool (RAT) was used to grind a 1.5 millimeters (0.06 inch) into this very hard rock for further investigation by the other rover instruments.
On Sol 2110 (Dec. 24, 2009), the RAT itself was imaged to determine the amount of remaining grind bit. Then, a microscopic imager (MI) mosaic was performed on the RAT hole in Marquette Island. Finally, the Moessbauer (MB) spectrometer was positioned on a different rock target for a long integration.
The plan ahead is to collect an alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) spectrum and a MB spectrum from the RAT hole, before resuming the drive toward Endeavour crater.
As of Sol 2110 (Dec. 24, 2009), Opportunity’s solar-array energy production was 315 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (tau) of 0.491 and a dust factor of 0.509. Total odometry was 18,927.56 meters (11.76 miles).
