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Inside Victoria Crater on Ma
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| Title |
Inside Victoria Crater on Mars |
| Explanation |
NASA's Opportunity rover is now inside Victoria Crater [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070904.html ] on Mars [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars ]. Last week the robot rolled [ http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20070913a.html ] about 20 meters into the largest crater any Martian rover [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Rovers ] has yet encountered, the crater next to which Opportunity has been perched for months. Currently, the rolling explorer is situated in Duck Bay alcove [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061002.html ], peering across at the internal crater wall dubbed Cape St. Vincent [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070703.html ]. The above wide-angle view [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09928 ] is from Opportunity's front hazard-identification camera. Over the next few weeks, Opportunity [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070204.html ] is scheduled to explore this telling alien indentation, searching for clues to the ancient past of Mars before the huge impact that created Victoria Crater [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061009.html ] ever took place. |
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Opportunity at Work Inside V
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PIA10077
Sol (our sun)
Hazard Identification Camera
| Title |
Opportunity at Work Inside Victoria Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
NASA Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its front hazard-identification camera to capture this wide-angle view of its robotic arm extended to a rock in a bright-toned layer inside Victoria Crater. The image was taken during the rover's 1,322nd Martian day, or sol (Oct. 13, 2007). Victoria Crater has a scalloped shape of alternating alcoves and promontories around the crater's circumference. Opportunity descended into the crater two weeks earlier, within an alcove called "Duck Bay." Counterclockwise around the rim, just to the right of the arm in this image, is a promontory called "Cabo Frio." |
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At Bright Band Inside Victor
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PIA10006
Sol (our sun)
Hazard Identification Camera
| Title |
At Bright Band Inside Victoria Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
A layer of light-toned rock exposed inside Victoria Crater in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars appears to mark where the surface was at the time, many millions of years ago, when an impact excavated the crater. NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove to this bright band as the science team's first destination for the rover during investigations inside the crater. Opportunity's left front hazard-identification camera took this image just after the rover finished a drive of 2.25 meters (7 feet, 5 inches) during the rover's 1,305th Martian day, or sol, (Sept. 25, 2007). The rocks beneath the rover and its extended robotic arm are part of the bright band. Victoria Crater has a scalloped shape of alternating alcoves and promontories around the crater's circumference. Opportunity descended into the crater two weeks earlier, within an alcove called "Duck Bay." Counterclockwise around the rim, just to the right of the arm in this image, is a promontory called "Cabo Frio." |
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Opportunity's First Dip into
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PIA09924
Sol (our sun)
Hazard Identification Camera
| Title |
Opportunity's First Dip into Victoria Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity entered Victoria Crater during the rover's 1,291st Martian day, or sol, (Sept. 11, 2007). The rover team commanded Opportunity to drive just far enough into the crater to get all six wheels onto the inner slope, and then to back out again and assess how much the wheels slipped on the slope. The driving commands for the day included a precaution for the rover to stop driving if the wheels were slipping more than 40 percent. Slippage exceeded that amount on the last step of the drive, so Opportunity stopped with its front pair of wheels still inside the crater. The rover team planned to assess results of the drive, then start Opportunity on an extended exploration inside the crater. This wide-angle view taken by Opportunity's front hazard-identification camera at the end of the day's driving shows the wheel tracks created by the short dip into the crater. The left half of the image looks across an alcove informally named "Duck Bay" toward a promontory called "Cape Verde" clockwise around the crater wall. The right half of the image looks across the main body of the crater, which is 800 meters (half a mile) in diameter. |
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Inside Victoria Crater for E
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PIA09928
Sol (our sun)
Hazard Identification Camera
| Title |
Inside Victoria Crater for Extended Exploration |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
After a finishing an in-and-out maneuver to check wheel slippage near the rim of Victoria Crater, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity re-entered the crater during the rover's 1,293rd Martian day, or sol, (Sept. 13, 2007) to begin a weeks-long exploration of the inner slope. Opportunity's front hazard-identification camera recorded this wide-angle view looking down into and across the crater at the end of the day's drive. The rover's position was about six meters (20 feet) inside the rim, in the "Duck Bay" alcove of the crater. |
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After Opportunity's First Dr
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PIA09963
Sol (our sun)
Hazard Identification Camera
| Title |
After Opportunity's First Drive in Six Weeks |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its front hazard-identification camera to obtain this image at the end of a drive on the rover's 1,271st sol, or Martian day (Aug. 21, 2007). Due to sun-obscuring dust storms limiting the rover's supply of solar energy, Opportunity had not driven since sol 1,232 (July 12, 2007). On sol 1,271, after the sky above Opportunity had been gradually clearing for more than two weeks, the rover rolled 13.38 meters (44 feet). Wheel tracks are visible in front of the rover because the drive ended with a short test of driving backwards. Opportunity's turret of four tools at the end of the robotic arm fills the center of the image. Victoria Crater, site of the rover's next science targets, lies ahead. |
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