2011-03-29

Opportunity Sol 774 (Spirit Sol 795)

Yestersol's drive went splendidly. We made 61m of progress, the longest single-sol Opportunity drive since Purgatory. And that puts us over 400m from Olympia.

And thisol, we're poised to do another solid one. The trough we're in peters out after another 40m, but Jeng, who's RP-1 today, finds a spot where we can hop one ripple and then skate southward along outcrop (backward), a total of about 50m.

The next drive should be challenging. After this drive, we'll be in front of a dune that's probably about 20cm or larger -- bigger than we should attempt to climb -- and we're not sure whether the eastward path around it, or the westward path, will work. Or neither, in which case some creativity might be required. But I won't be there to solve it -- I'm descending to the Spirit World tomorrow, to try to drag Opportunity's crippled sister a few more meters toward safety.

[Next post: sol 797, March 31.]

No comments: