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MARSDAILY
Opportunity On Final Rove To Endeavour Crater
by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 09, 2011

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its panoramic camera (Pancam) to capture this view of a portion of Endeavour crater's rim after a drive during the rover's 2,676th Martian day, or sol, of working on Mars (Aug. 4, 2011). Full size images available at JPL Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU.

The NASA Mars rover Opportunity has gained a view of Endeavour crater from barely more than a football-field's distance away from the rim. The rim of Endeavour has been the mission's long-term goal since mid-2008.

Endeavour offers the setting for plenty of productive work by Opportunity.

The crater is 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter - more than 25 times wider than Victoria crater, an earlier stop that Opportunity examined for two years.

Observations by orbiting spacecraft indicate that the ridges along Endeavour's western rim expose rock outcrops older than any Opportunity has seen so far.

The selected location for arrival at the rim, "Spirit Point," is at the southern tip of one of those ridges, "Cape York," on the western side of Endeavour.

Opportunity and Spirit completed their three-month prime missions on Mars in April 2004. Both rovers continued for years of bonus, extended missions.

Both have made important discoveries about wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life.

The mission of the Spirit rover, for which Spirit Point was named, was concluded in May, 2011, after the rover did not re-establish communications following the Martian winter.




Related Links
Mars Rovers at JPL
Mars Rovers at Cornell
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more

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MARSDAILY
Nearing First Landfall of Large Crater
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 08, 2011
Opportunity is now only about 120 meters (394 feet) from "Spirit Point," the first landfall on the rim of Endeavour crater. The rover drove four times in the last week on Sols 2670, 2671, 2674 and 2676 (July 29, 30, Aug. 2 and Aug. 4, 2011), totaling over 370 meters (0.23 miles) of drive distance and exceeding over 33 kilometers (20.5 miles) in total odometry. The right-front wheel c ... read more


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