At the Edge of Victoria Crater
At the Edge of Victoria Crater
Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission,
Cornell,
JPL,
NASA
Explanation: We're going in. The
robotic Opportunity rover currently rolling across
Mars has been prowling around the edge of the largest crater it has visited since
landing over three years ago. It has been studying
Victoria crater and looking for a way in. Now
scientists on Earth have decided to take a
calculated risk and plan to send Opportunity right into this ancient Martian crater over the next few weeks.
Pictured is Cape St. Vincent, part of the wall of
Victoria Crater next to where
Opportunity will descend. The wall itself appears to contain clues about the <a href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040114.html">Martian terrain before the impact that created Victoria crater, and so will be
studied during the daring descent. Above the crater wall, far in the distance, lays a relatively featureless
Martian horizon.
At the Edge of Victoria Crater
