<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: Arial; "><span style="font-family: Helvetica; "></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>* Mars Exploration Rover Mission (Spirit and Opportunity) - February 20, 2013</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Remains Silent at Troy - <i>sols 2621-2627, May 18-24, 2011</i>:</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><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: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><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: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><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: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: 'Big Nickel' Rock Target Ahead - <i>sols 3220-3227, Feb. 13, 2013-Feb. 20, 2013</i>:</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">"Opportunity is conducting the post-walkabout in-situ (contact) science campaign at different locations around the inboard edge of 'Cape York' on the rim of Endeavour Crater. </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">On Sol 3221 (Feb. 14, 2013), it was planned to have the rover perform a very small turn to position the robotic arm for an acceptable surface target, but a Deep Space Network issue prevented the command sequences from reaching the rover. With imagery subsequently returned from Opportunity, an acceptable target was found within reach of the arm, negating the need for a turn. </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">On Sol 3224 (Feb. 17, 2013), Opportunity used the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) to brush the surface target 'Maley,' which was then followed by a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic and a placement of the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) for an overnight integration. With work complete at this location, on Sol 3227 (Feb. 20, 2013), the rover drove approximately 120 feet (36.5 meters) to the southeast towards the rock target 'Big Nickel' to begin an in-situ investigation there. No 'amnesia' events with the Flash file system have occurred since Sol 3183 (Jan. 6, 2013), and the rover is otherwise in good health. </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">As of Sol 3226 (Feb. 19, 2013), the solar array energy production was 521 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.829 and an estimated solar array dust factor of 0.618.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Total odometry is 22.11 miles (35576.09 meters)."</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; 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: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Visit the Mars Exploration Rover page at</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; 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: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="font-family: Helvetica; "></span></div></body></html>