Opportunity Still Going Despite Dust

Opportunity's solar arrays are dustier than before the most recent dust storm but they are still providing about 600 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, 200 watt-hours less than before the storm. Nevertheless, the rover is planned to make more studies of a layer of rock noted in the surrounding features, utilizing its Moessbauer spectrometer which measures composition for iron-containing minerals, as they are numerous on the Martian surface. The spectrometer however is powered primarily by a radioactive source which is fast decaying, causing collection of spectrometer data to take up to three martian days. The rover will also soon be measuring argon levels in the atmosphere which, since argon is unreactive and remains in its native state, can be used as a barometer for atmospheric pressure. The article contains more in depth discussion of the near-future plans for opportunity and can be found here: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Opportunity_Studies_Rock_Composition_And_Changes_In_Atmosphere_999.html