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recently succeeded in collecting “really interesting” new high resolution survey scans of Solander Point

The new MRO data are crucial for targeting the rover’s driving in coming months.

Solander Point is an eroded ridge located along the western rim of huge Endeavour Crater where Opportunity is currently located

it will take some time to review and interpret the bountiful new spectral data and decide on a course of action

Expect that analysis to take a “couple of weeks”

The new CRISM survey from Mars orbit will vastly improve the spectral resolution – from 18 meters per pixel down to 5 meters per pixel

Another important point about ‘Solander Point’ is that it also offers northerly tilted slopes that will maximize the power generation during Opportunity’s upcoming 6th Martian winter

winter’s last six full months

The rover recently investigated an outcrop target called ‘Poverty Bush’.

deployed her 3 foot long (1 meter) robotic arm and collected photos with the Microscopic Imager (MI)

collected several days of spectral measurements with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS).

There are several geologic units that are overlapping

Opportunity is sitting on the contact

the east side of the contact are rocks maybe a billion years older than those on the west side of the contact

So far

has snapped over 184,500

images

total odometry stands at over 23.82 miles (38.34 kilometers) since touchdown on Jan. 24, 2004

demonstration test flight from the California coast carrying a Canadian satellite to an elliptical earth orbit

Both Cygnus and Falcon 9 were developed with seed money from NASA in a pair of public-private partnerships between NASA and Orbital Sciences and SpaceX

docking was delayed a week due to an easily fixed communications glitch

The Cygnus spacecraft

Hatches to Cygnus

opened on Monday, Sept. 30 after completing leak checks

second commercial partner’s demonstration mission reaches the ISS

Cygnus delivers about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo, including food, clothing, water, science experiments, spare parts and gear to the Expedition 37 crew

SpaceX Falcon 9 blasted off from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California

deployed Canada’s 1,060 pound (481 kg) Cascade, Smallsat, and Ionospheric Polar Explorer (CASSIOPE) weather satellite and several additional small satellites.