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11th August, 2011, 06:42 PM
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/578683main_pia14508-43_946-710.jpg
West Rim of Endeavour Crater on Mars
A portion of the west rim of Endeavour crater sweeps southward in this color view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. This crater -- with a diameter of about 14 miles (22 kilometers) -- is more than 25 times wider than any that Opportunity has previously approached during the rover's 90 months on Mars.
This view combines exposures taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) on the 2,678th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Aug. 6, 2011) before driving on that sol. The subsequent Sol 2678 drive covered 246 feet (75.26 meters), more than half of the remaining distance to the rim of the crater. Opportunity arrived at the rim during its next drive, on Sol 2681 (Aug. 9, 2011).
Endeavour crater has been the rover team's destination for Opportunity since the rover finished exploring Victoria crater in August 2008. Endeavour offers access to older geological deposits than any Opportunity has seen before.
The closest of the distant ridges visible along the Endeavour rim is informally named "Solander Point." Opportunity may investigate that area in the future. The rover's first destination on the rim, called "Spirit Point" in tribute to Opportunity's now-inactive twin, Spirit, is to the left (north) of this scene.
The lighter-toned rocks closer to the rover in this view are similar to the rocks Opportunity has driven over for most of the mission. However, the darker-toned and rougher rocks just beyond that might be a different type for Opportunity to investigate.
The ground in the foreground is covered with iron-rich spherules, nicknamed "blueberries," which Opportunity has observed frequently since the first days after landing. They are about 0.2 inch (5 millimeters) or more in diameter.
This view combines images taken through three different Pancam filters admitting light with wavelengths centered at 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). This "natural color" is the rover team's best estimate of what the scene would look like if humans were there and able to see it with their own eyes. Seams have been eliminated from the sky portion of the mosaic to better simulate the vista a person standing on Mars would see.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/multimedia/gallery/pia11507.htmlhttp://www.nasa.gov/images/content/578672main_pia14507-43_946-710.jpg
West Rim of Endeavour Crater on Mars (False Color)
A portion of the west rim of Endeavour crater sweeps southward in this color view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. This crater -- with a diameter of about 24 miles (22 kilometers) -- is more than 25 times wider than any that Opportunity has previously approached during the rover's 90 months on Mars.
The view is presented in false color to emphasize differences among materials in the rocks and the soils.
This view combines exposures taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) on the 2,678th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Aug. 6, 2011) before driving on that sol. The subsequent Sol 2678 drive covered 246 feet (75.26 meters), more than half of the remaining distance to the rim of the crater. Opportunity arrived at the rim during its next drive, on Sol 2681 (Aug. 9, 2011).
Endeavour crater has been the rover team's destination for Opportunity since the rover finished exploring Victoria crater in August 2008. Endeavour offers access to older geological deposits than any Opportunity has seen before.
The closest of the distant ridges visible along the Endeavour rim is informally named "Solander Point." Opportunity may investigate that area in the future. The rover's first destination on the rim, called "Spirit Point" in tribute to Opportunity's now-inactive twin, Spirit, is to the left (north) of this scene.
The lighter-toned rocks closer to the rover in this view are similar to the rocks Opportunity has driven over for most of the mission. However, the darker-toned and rougher rocks just beyond that might be a different type for Opportunity to investigate.
The ground in the foreground is covered with iron-rich spherules, nicknamed "blueberries," which Opportunity has observed frequently since the first days after landing. They are about 0.2 inch (5 millimeters) or more in diameter.
Images combined into this view were taken through three different Pancam filters admitting light with wavelengths centered at 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). Seams have been eliminated from the sky portion of the mosaic to better simulate the vista a person standing on Mars would see.
After a journey of almost three years, Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has reached the Red PlanetEndeavour crater to study rocks never seen before.
On Aug. 9, the golf cart-sized rover relayed its arrival at a location named Spirit Point on the craterrim. Opportunity drove approximately 13 miles (21 kilometers) after climbing out of the Victoria crater.
NASA is continuing to write remarkable chapters in our nation story of exploration with discoveries on Mars and trips to an array of challenging new destinations, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. Opportunity findings and data from the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory will play a key role in making possible future human missions to Mars and other places where humans have not yet been.
Endeavour crater, which is more than 25 times wider than Victoria crater, is 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter. At Endeavour, scientists expect to see much older rocks and terrains than those examined by Opportunity during its first seven years on Mars. Endeavour became a tantalizing destination after Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter detected clay minerals that may have formed in an early warmer and wetter period.
We're soon going to get the opportunity to sample a rock type the rovers haven't seen yet, said Matthew Golombek, Mars Exploration Rover science team member, at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. Clay minerals form in wet conditions so we may learn about a potentially habitable environment that appears to have been very different from those responsible for the rocks comprising the plains.
The name Spirit Point informally commemorates Opportunity twin rover, which stopped communicating in March 2010. Spirit's mission officially concluded in May.
Our arrival at this destination is a reminder that these rovers have continued far beyond the original three-month mission, said John Callas, Mars Exploration Rover project manager at JPL.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched Aug. 12, 2005, is searching for evidence that water persisted on the Martian surface for a long period of time. Other Mars missions have shown water flowed across the surface in the planet's history, but scientists have not determined if water remained long enough to provide a habitat for life.
NASA launched the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity in the summer of 2003. Both completed their three-month prime missions in April 2004 and continued years of extended operations. They made important discoveries about wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life.
JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
view more picture and information about the pictures at the same link.
NASA - NASA Mars Rover Arrives at New Site on Martian Surface (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news/mer20110810.html)
fireblade.
West Rim of Endeavour Crater on Mars
A portion of the west rim of Endeavour crater sweeps southward in this color view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. This crater -- with a diameter of about 14 miles (22 kilometers) -- is more than 25 times wider than any that Opportunity has previously approached during the rover's 90 months on Mars.
This view combines exposures taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) on the 2,678th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Aug. 6, 2011) before driving on that sol. The subsequent Sol 2678 drive covered 246 feet (75.26 meters), more than half of the remaining distance to the rim of the crater. Opportunity arrived at the rim during its next drive, on Sol 2681 (Aug. 9, 2011).
Endeavour crater has been the rover team's destination for Opportunity since the rover finished exploring Victoria crater in August 2008. Endeavour offers access to older geological deposits than any Opportunity has seen before.
The closest of the distant ridges visible along the Endeavour rim is informally named "Solander Point." Opportunity may investigate that area in the future. The rover's first destination on the rim, called "Spirit Point" in tribute to Opportunity's now-inactive twin, Spirit, is to the left (north) of this scene.
The lighter-toned rocks closer to the rover in this view are similar to the rocks Opportunity has driven over for most of the mission. However, the darker-toned and rougher rocks just beyond that might be a different type for Opportunity to investigate.
The ground in the foreground is covered with iron-rich spherules, nicknamed "blueberries," which Opportunity has observed frequently since the first days after landing. They are about 0.2 inch (5 millimeters) or more in diameter.
This view combines images taken through three different Pancam filters admitting light with wavelengths centered at 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). This "natural color" is the rover team's best estimate of what the scene would look like if humans were there and able to see it with their own eyes. Seams have been eliminated from the sky portion of the mosaic to better simulate the vista a person standing on Mars would see.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/multimedia/gallery/pia11507.htmlhttp://www.nasa.gov/images/content/578672main_pia14507-43_946-710.jpg
West Rim of Endeavour Crater on Mars (False Color)
A portion of the west rim of Endeavour crater sweeps southward in this color view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. This crater -- with a diameter of about 24 miles (22 kilometers) -- is more than 25 times wider than any that Opportunity has previously approached during the rover's 90 months on Mars.
The view is presented in false color to emphasize differences among materials in the rocks and the soils.
This view combines exposures taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) on the 2,678th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Aug. 6, 2011) before driving on that sol. The subsequent Sol 2678 drive covered 246 feet (75.26 meters), more than half of the remaining distance to the rim of the crater. Opportunity arrived at the rim during its next drive, on Sol 2681 (Aug. 9, 2011).
Endeavour crater has been the rover team's destination for Opportunity since the rover finished exploring Victoria crater in August 2008. Endeavour offers access to older geological deposits than any Opportunity has seen before.
The closest of the distant ridges visible along the Endeavour rim is informally named "Solander Point." Opportunity may investigate that area in the future. The rover's first destination on the rim, called "Spirit Point" in tribute to Opportunity's now-inactive twin, Spirit, is to the left (north) of this scene.
The lighter-toned rocks closer to the rover in this view are similar to the rocks Opportunity has driven over for most of the mission. However, the darker-toned and rougher rocks just beyond that might be a different type for Opportunity to investigate.
The ground in the foreground is covered with iron-rich spherules, nicknamed "blueberries," which Opportunity has observed frequently since the first days after landing. They are about 0.2 inch (5 millimeters) or more in diameter.
Images combined into this view were taken through three different Pancam filters admitting light with wavelengths centered at 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). Seams have been eliminated from the sky portion of the mosaic to better simulate the vista a person standing on Mars would see.
After a journey of almost three years, Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has reached the Red PlanetEndeavour crater to study rocks never seen before.
On Aug. 9, the golf cart-sized rover relayed its arrival at a location named Spirit Point on the craterrim. Opportunity drove approximately 13 miles (21 kilometers) after climbing out of the Victoria crater.
NASA is continuing to write remarkable chapters in our nation story of exploration with discoveries on Mars and trips to an array of challenging new destinations, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. Opportunity findings and data from the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory will play a key role in making possible future human missions to Mars and other places where humans have not yet been.
Endeavour crater, which is more than 25 times wider than Victoria crater, is 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter. At Endeavour, scientists expect to see much older rocks and terrains than those examined by Opportunity during its first seven years on Mars. Endeavour became a tantalizing destination after Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter detected clay minerals that may have formed in an early warmer and wetter period.
We're soon going to get the opportunity to sample a rock type the rovers haven't seen yet, said Matthew Golombek, Mars Exploration Rover science team member, at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. Clay minerals form in wet conditions so we may learn about a potentially habitable environment that appears to have been very different from those responsible for the rocks comprising the plains.
The name Spirit Point informally commemorates Opportunity twin rover, which stopped communicating in March 2010. Spirit's mission officially concluded in May.
Our arrival at this destination is a reminder that these rovers have continued far beyond the original three-month mission, said John Callas, Mars Exploration Rover project manager at JPL.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched Aug. 12, 2005, is searching for evidence that water persisted on the Martian surface for a long period of time. Other Mars missions have shown water flowed across the surface in the planet's history, but scientists have not determined if water remained long enough to provide a habitat for life.
NASA launched the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity in the summer of 2003. Both completed their three-month prime missions in April 2004 and continued years of extended operations. They made important discoveries about wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life.
JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
view more picture and information about the pictures at the same link.
NASA - NASA Mars Rover Arrives at New Site on Martian Surface (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news/mer20110810.html)
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