[meteorite-list] NASA's Mars Rover and Orbiter Team Examines Victoria Crater

[Ron Baalke]

Oct. 6, 2006

Dwayne Brown/Erica Hupp
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726/1237

Guy Webster/Natalie Godwin
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6278/0850

RELEASE: 06-330

NASA'S MARS ROVER AND ORBITER TEAM EXAMINES VICTORIA CRATER

NASA's long-lived robotic rover Opportunity is beginning to explore 
layered rocks in cliffs ringing the massive Victoria crater on Mars.

While Opportunity spent its first week at the crater, NASA's newest 
eye in the Martian sky photographed the rover and its surroundings 
from above. The level of detail in the photo from the high-resolution 
camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will help guide the rover's 
exploration of Victoria.

"This is a tremendous example of how our Mars missions in orbit and on 
the surface are designed to reinforce each other and expand our 
ability to explore and discover," said Doug McCuistion, director of 
NASA's Mars Exploration Program in Washington. "You can only achieve 
this compelling level of exploration capability with the sustained 
exploration approach we are conducting at Mars through integrated 
orbiters and landers."

"The combination of the ground-level and aerial view is much more 
powerful than either alone," said Steve Squyres of Cornell 
University, Ithaca, N.Y. Squyres is principal investigator for 
Opportunity and its twin, Spirit. "If you were a geologist driving up 
to the edge of a crater in your jeep, the first thing you would do 
would be to pick up the aerial photo you brought with you and use it 
to understand what you're seeing from ground level. That's exactly 
what we're doing here."

Images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, orbiting the red planet since 
1997, prompted the rover team to choose Victoria two years ago as the 
long-term destination for Opportunity. The images show the 
one-half-mile-wide crater has scalloped edges of alternating 
cliff-like high, jutting ledges and gentler alcoves. The new image by 
the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter adds significantly more detail.

Exposed geological layers in the cliff-like portions of Victoria's 
inner wall appear to record a longer span of Mars' environmental 
history than the rover has studied in smaller craters. Victoria is 
five times larger than any crater Opportunity has visited during its 
Martian trek.

High-resolution color images taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera 
since Sept. 28 reveal previously unseen patterns in the layers. 
"There are distinct variations in the sedimentary layering as you 
look farther down in the stack," Squyres said. "That tells us 
environmental conditions were not constant."

Within two months after landing on Mars in early 2004, Opportunity 
found geological evidence for a long-ago environment that was wet. 
Scientists hope the layers in Victoria will provide new clues about 
whether that wet environment was persistent, fleeting or cyclical.

The rovers have worked on Mars for more than 10 times their originally 
planned three-month missions. "Opportunity shows a few signs of aging 
but is in good shape for undertaking exploration of Victoria crater," 
said John Callas, project manager for the rovers at NASA's Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

"What we see so far just adds to the excitement. The team has worked 
heroically for nearly 21 months driving the rover here, and now we're 
all rewarded with views of a spectacular landscape of nearly 
50-foot-thick exposures of layered rock," said Jim Bell of Cornell. 
Bell is lead scientist for the rovers' panoramic cameras. NASA plans 
to drive Opportunity from crater ridge to ridge, studying nearby 
cliffs across the intervening alcoves and looking for safe ways to 
drive the rover down. "It's like going to the Grand Canyon and seeing 
what you can from several different overlooks before you walk down," 
Bell said.

The orbiter images will help the team choose which way to send 
Opportunity around the rim, and where to stop for the best views. 
Conversely, the rover's ground-level observations of some of the same 
features will provide useful information for interpreting orbital 
images.

"The ground-truth we get from the rover images and measurements 
enables us to better interpret features we see elsewhere on Mars, 
including very rugged and dramatic terrains that we can't currently 
study on the ground," said Alfred McEwen of the University of 
Arizona, Tucson. He is principal investigator for the orbiter's High 
Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the rovers and orbiter for 
NASA's Science Mission Directorate. For images and information about 
the rovers, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/rovers

For images and information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mro

	
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