<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; "><span style="font-family: Helvetica; "></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* <b>Mars Exploration Rover Mission</b> (Spirit and Opportunity) - August 28, 2012</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Remains Silent at Troy</b> - <i>sols 2621-2627, May 18-24, 2011</i>:</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">"No communication has been received from Spirit since Sol 2210 (March 22, 2010).</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">More than 1,300 commands were radiated to Spirit as part of the recovery effort in an attempt to elicit a response from the rover. No communication has been received from Spirit since Sol 2210 (March 22, 2010). The project concluded the Spirit recovery efforts on May 25, 2011. The remaining, pre-sequenced ultra-high frequency (UHF) relay passes scheduled for Spirit on board the Odyssey orbiter will complete on June 8, 2011.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Total odometry is unchanged at 7,730.50 meters (4.80 miles)."</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Exceeds 35 Kilometers Of Driving!</b> - <i>sols 3051-3056, August 23-28, 2012</i>:</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">"Opportunity has exceeded over 35 kilometers (21.75 miles) of odometry!</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The rover is moving south along the inboard edge of Cape York on the rim of Endeavour Crater surveying exposed outcrop in search of phyllosilicate clay minerals that have been detected from orbit.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">On Sol 3051 (Aug. 23, 2012), Opportunity continued to move about 98 feet (30 meters) south along the inboard edge of Cape York, imaging the outcrop to the west with both Panoramic Camera (Pancam) and Navigation Camera (Navcam). On Sol 3053 (Aug. 25, 2012), the rover drove further south with more of an inboard bias to be closer to the outcrop. Again, more detailed Pancam and Navcam surveys were performed. On Sol 3055 (Aug. 27, 2012), the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) on the end of the robotic arm was imaged to re-confirm the available bit for future grinding and the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) collected a measurement of atmospheric argon.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">On Sol 3056 (Aug. 28, 2012), Opportunity headed almost due west in a direct approach to some exciting outcrop units. With that drive, the rover passed 35 kilometers of odometry. Not bad for a vehicle designed for only about 1 mile (1 kilometer) of distance and 90 sols (days) of lifetime.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">As of Sol 3056 (Aug. 28, 2012), the solar array energy production was 568 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.570 and a solar array dust factor of 0.684.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Total odometry is 21.76 miles (35,017.33 meters)."</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #000000">Landing sites link - <a href="http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/</span></a> </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Visit the Mars Exploration Rover page at</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #000000"> <a href="http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html</span></a>.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Courier; "><span style="font-family: Helvetica; "></span></div></body></html>