NASA’s ROVER NEARS CRATER SCIENCE TROVE

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Rover nears crater science trove
Opportunity has been travelling to Victoria crater for about half its mission
Nasa’s
robotic Mars rover Opportunity is closing in on what could be the
richest scientific “treasure trove” of its mission so far.Within the
next two weeks, Opportunity should reach the rim of a crater wider and
deeper than any it has visited in more than two-and-a-half years on
Mars.Rocks exposed in the walls of Victoria Crater could open a new
window into the geological history of the Red Planet.Opportunity has
been exploring Mars’ Meridiani Plains since January 2004.Its “twin”,
the Spirit rover, continues to explore Gusev Crater on the other side
of the Red Planet.Images from Nasa’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft
show a stack of layered bedrock about 30-40m (100-130ft) thick in the
walls of Victoria.”We have a fully functional vehicle with all the
instruments working. We’re ready to hit Victoria with everything we’ve
got,” said Byron Jones, a rover mission manager at Nasa’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in California.

Surviving the winter
Ray
Arvidson, deputy principal investigator for the rovers, said that
exploring the rocks in Victoria Crater would greatly increase
understanding of past conditions on Mars, including the role of
water.”In particular, we are very interested in whether the rocks
continue to show evidence for having been formed in shallow lakes,”
said the scientist, who is based at Washington University in St Louis,
US.

    
Mars rover (Nasa)
We’re ready to hit Victoria with everything we’ve got
Byron
Jones, Nasa JPLIt is still winter in the Martian southern hemisphere
where Opportunity is exploring. But the days have started to get longer
again, so Opportunity’s power supply from its solar panels is
increasing day by day.During its first two months on the Red Planet,
Opportunity examined a pile of rock layers 30cm thick inside “Eagle
Crater” and found geological evidence that water had flowed across the
Martian surface many millions of years ago.The rover spent the next
nine months driving to and exploring a larger crater called “Endurance”.

Space support
On
the drive from Endurance to Victoria, the rocks told a history of
shallow lakes, drier periods of shifting dunes and groundwater levels
that rose and fell. Minerals indicated the ancient water was very
acidic.Professor Arvidson said mission scientists wanted to compare the
rock layers at Victoria Crater with those seen so far to see if the
conditions that created them were different.He mused: “Was there a wet
environment that was less acidic, perhaps even more habitable? Where do
the layers from Endurance fit in this thicker sequence?”Nasa’s Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter, which reached the Red Planet in March this
year, will assist the rover’s task by mapping Victoria Crater at high
resolution from orbit.Spirit and Opportunity had primary missions
lasting just three months. Though both are showing signs of wear, they
are roving the Martian surface after more than 30 months.Meridiani
Planum Image: Nasa Opportunity encountered a rock outcrop resembling a
cobblestone road on its journey to “Victoria”.

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September 7, 2006 at 11:15 AM