[meteorite-list] NASA Mars Rover Arrives at Dramatic Vista on Red Planet

[Ron Baalke]

Sept. 27, 2006

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

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6278

RELEASE: 06-324

NASA MARS ROVER ARRIVES AT DRAMATIC VISTA ON RED PLANET

NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity has arrived at the rim of a crater 
approximately five times wider than a previous stadium-sized one it 
studied for half a year.

Initial images from the rover's first overlook after a 21-month 
journey to 'Victoria Crater' show rugged walls with 
layers of exposed rock and a floor blanketed with dunes. The far wall 
is approximately one-half mile from the rover.

"This is a geologist's dream come true," said Steve Squyres of Cornell 
University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for NASA's twin 
rovers Opportunity and Spirit. "Those layers of rock, if we can get 
to them, will tell us new stories about the environmental conditions 
long ago. We especially want to learn whether the wet era that we 
found recorded in the rocks closer to the landing site extended 
farther back in time. The way to find that out is to go deeper, and 
Victoria may let us do that."

Opportunity has been exploring Mars since January 2004, more than 10 
times longer than its original prime mission of three months. It has 
driven more than 5.7 miles. Most of that was to get from "Endurance" 
crater to Victoria, across a flat plain pocked with smaller craters 
and strewn with sand ripples. Frequent stops to examine intriguing 
rocks interrupted the journey, and one large sand ripple kept the 
rover trapped for more than five weeks.

"We're so proud of Opportunity, the rover that 'takes a lickin' but 
keeps on tickin'," said Cindy Oda, a Mars rover mission manager at 
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif. "It 
continues to overcome all challenges despite its aging parts and 
difficult terrain. We are looking forward to exciting new discoveries 
as Opportunity begins its new adventure exploring Victoria crater."

Spirit, halfway around Mars and farther south of the planet's equator, 
has been staying at one northward-tilted position through the 
southern Mars winter for a maximum energy supply for its solar 
panels. Spirit is conducting studies that benefit from staying in one 
place, such as monitoring effects of wind on dust. It will begin 
driving again when the Martian spring increases the amount of solar 
power available.

Operations for both rovers will be minimized for much of October as 
Mars passes nearly behind the sun from Earth's perspective, making 
radio communication more difficult than usual.

Opportunity's view into the Victoria crater is available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/rovers

JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for the NASA Science 
Mission Directorate, Washington.

	
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