OPPORTUNITY UPDATE:

sols 3548-3553, January 16, 2014-January 21, 2014

Opportunity is up on "Solander Point" at the rim of Endeavour Crater. Opportunity is positioned on the edge of an exposed outcrop where orbital observations suggest the possible presence of small amounts of clay minerals.

Opportunity landed on Mars on Jan. 24, 2004 PST (Jan. 25, 2004 UTC) on what was to be a three-month mission, but instead the rover has lived beyond its prime mission and roved the planet for nearly 10 years. Mission highlights, including a gallery of selected images from both rovers is at http://mars.nasa.gov/mer10/.

The rover is continuing to investigate this curious surface rock, called "Pinnacle Island" that apparently was kicked up by the rover during a recent traverse. On Sol 3548 (Jan. 16, 2014), Opportunity repositioned the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) on Pinnacle Island for an overnight integration, documenting the placement with a Microscopic Imager (MI) finder frame. On Sol 3551 (Jan. 19, 2014), the rover again repositioned the APXS on Pinnacle Island for a multi-sol integration, documenting the new placement with a Microscopic Image finder frame and front Hazards Avoidance Camera (Hazcam) images.

As of Sol 3553 (Jan. 21, 2014), the solar array energy production was 361 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.595 and a solar array dust factor of 0.594.

Total odometry is 24.07 miles (38.73 kilometers).