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Posted by baalke on September 14, 2007, 12:13 pm
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http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20070913a.html
Opportunity Begins Sustained Exploration Inside Crater
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
September 13, 2007
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity finished the last step of a
test in-and-out maneuver checking wheel slippage at the rim of
Victoria
Crater today. Then the rover immediately drove back into the crater as
the start of a multi-week investigation on the big bowl's inner slope.
Opportunity started the day with just two of its six wheels inside the
rim of Victoria Crater and ended the day's driving about six meters
(20
feet) inside the rim.
The mission's first destination inside the crater is a light-toned
layer
of exposed rock that may preserve evidence of interaction between the
Martian atmosphere and surface from millions of years ago. Victoria
exposes a taller stack of ancient rock layers than any crater
Opportunity has previously visited during the rover's nearly 44 months
on Mars. The mission was originally planned for three months.
"We want to maintain a safe egress route out of the crater for
Opportunity, and by completing the back-up drive over the sand ripple
at
the rim, we have confirmed that we have one," said John Callas, Mars
rover project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif. "Opportunity is now exploring the interior of Victoria Crater."
###
Guy Webster 818-354-6278
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