2004 12 16, December 16th, 2004 Options

[OWW]

Hello, this is Beth Dewell for the Mars Exploration Rover Flight Director report for Thursday December 16th 2004.

On Spirit today is sol 339 at the end of the night. On Spirit our general plan is that we’re heading to a position called Larry’s Lookout where we’ll be able to see all around our surrounding area. The drive to this position has been difficult because we’ve been slipping quite a bit. On 339 we had planned for a long drive, but this was precluded because of a rock near our right rear wheel. On sol 340 the plan is to further assess our traversability with this rock near our wheel and determine our path for maneuvering around it.

On the other side of the planet on Opportunity it is currently sol 319 at the beginning of the day. Opportunity has been really exciting recently because we have emerged from Endurance crater. We are headed towards the heatshield at this point. One stop along the way is to do a PanCam of our old tracks that we had left more than 200 sols ago. On sol 319 we’re gonna perform another PanCam of these tracks and then head along for a long drive to the heat shield.

And that’s what’s happening on Mars today.