Sep 26 2007
From The Space Library
NASA’s JPL announced that, after entering the Victoria Crater on 13 September, Opportunity had reached its first destination inside the crater, driving 7.45 meters (24 feet) on 18 September and 2.47 meters (8 feet) further on 22 September. On 25 September, the rover had descended 2.25 meters (7.38 feet) down the inner slope of the 800-meter-wide (2,625-foot-wide) crater to a band of relatively bright bedrock, positioning itself to examine a selected slab of rock composed of three distinct layers. After the science team had conducted safety checks, Opportunity would examine the rock, using the tools at the end of its robotic arm. Safety checks were necessary because Opportunity was sitting on the slope at a 25° tilt. Victoria was the largest crater that Opportunity had visited during its nearly four Earth years of Mars exploration. Steven W. Squyres of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, the Rover Science Principal Investigator, explained that, through the several planned stops along the band of rock, scientists hoped to figure out the processes that had led to Victoria’s formation and to its distinctive appearance.
NASA JPL, “Opportunity Reaches First Target Inside Crater,” news release 2007-109, 26 September 2007, http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2007-109 (accessed 9 August 2010); Tariq Malik, “NASA Rover Reaches First Stop Inside Giant Martian Crater,” Space.com, 26 September 2007, http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070926_marsrover_victoriascience.html (accessed 10 August 2010).
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