17 September 2007
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
On 13 September 2007, after completing a test in-and-out maneuver at the rim of Victoria Crater, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity immediately drove back into the crater to begin a multi-week investigation on the crater's inner slope.
At the start of the day, just two of Opportunity's 6 wheels were inside the rim of Victoria Crater. By the day's end, the rover was driving about 6 meters inside the rim.
The mission's first destination inside the crater is a pale layer of exposed rock that may provide evidence of interaction between the Martian atmosphere and surface from millions of years ago.
Victoria exposes a taller stack of ancient rock layers than any crater Opportunity has previously visited during the rover's mission on the Red Planet. The mission was originally scheduled to be three months, but Opportunity has spent nearly 44 months on Mars, since its landing in January 2004.
"We want to maintain a safe egress route out of the crater for Opportunity, and by completing the back-up drive over the sand ripple at the rim, we have confirmed that we have one," said John Callas, Mars rover project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). "Opportunity is now exploring the interior of Victoria Crater."
Further Reading
JPL
www.nasa.jpl.gov/
Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist