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Opportunity rover reaches inside Victoria Crater |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Thursday, 27 September 2007
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 NASA's Martian rover Opportunity has reached its first stop inside the half-mile-wide Victoria Crater. The crater has long been a goal for the rover, which finally entered it earlier this month after enduring an energy-draining planet-wide dust storm. Opportunity is parked by a band of bright material that runs along the crater's walls, much like sedimentary deposits found on Earth.
NASA analysts have determined from imagery obtained by the rover that the band is composed of three distinct layers. Victoria is the largest crater visited by Opportunity or its twin Spirit in the nearly four Earth years that they have been exploring the surface of Mars. Researchers are hoping that they will be able to learn about what Mars' atmosphere used to be like, from analyzing how it interacted with the surface millions of years ago. Opportunity will use its sensors, cameras, and arm-mounted tools to sample the different rock layers.
To get to its current position, Opportunity had to be parked at a 25 degree tilt 40 feet below the crater's rim. Mission managers and the rover's drivers made certain to ensure that Opportunity could be backed out of the crater if it turned out that the path forward was too hazardous. The robot's handlers are experienced with driving at a tilt; Opportunity landed inside a small crater named Eagle and went on to explore Edurance Crater.
Even so, this 25 degree angle is the most severe that Opportunity has experienced to date. The rover's arm will be carefully maneuvered over the next few days to ensure that the center of gravity does not shift dramatically enough to endanger the rover. Once managers are sure they can proceed safely they will begin to drill into the rock layer to get a clean sample for analysis.
While Opportunity is gaining publicity as it dives in Victoria Crater, its twin, Spirit, is working on the other side of Mars on a giant rock slab dubbed Home Plate. The plateua-like outcropping appears to contain evidence of ancient volcanism and hydrological activity.
Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004 for what was projected to be a 90 day mission. The rovers have been operating almost without fault for nearly four years now. "Obviously, I have the greatest job in the solar system," said John Callas, one of the rover's managers based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "It's exciting, it's rewarding and we're doing great exploration."
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