Rover Arrives at Endeavor Crater on Mars
Explanation:
What can the present-day terrain in and around large Endeavor crater tell us about
ancient Mars?
Starting three years ago,
NASA sent a
coffee-table sized robot
named
Opportunity on a mission rolling across the red planet's
Meridiani Planum to find out.
Last week, it finally arrived.
Expansive
Endeavor crater stretches
22 kilometers from rim to rim, making it the largest crater ever visited by a Mars
Exploration Rover (MER).
It is hypothesized that the
impact that created the
crater exposed ancient rock that possibly formed under wet conditions, and if so,
this rock may yield unique clues to the
watery past of Mars.
Pictured
above, the west rim of
Endeavor looms just ahead of the Opportunity rover.
Opportunity may well spend the rest of its
operational life exploring Endeavor,
taking pictures,
spinning
its wheels, and
boring into intriguing rocks.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
