| Subject: Mars rover may plunge into depths of no return |
Author:
Betty
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Date Posted: 15:18:15 05/04/04 Tue
In reply to:
Betty
's message, "Hubbble telescope to die & be destoyed" on 12:26:05 02/15/04 Sun
NASA's Mars rover Opportunity is now perched on the brink of a 130-metre-wide crater and is surveying the site for a possible descent - from which it might never return.
The prospect of exploring Endurance crater is exciting mission scientists, who hope there will be even more bedrock exposed than in the much smaller crater in which Opportunity landed. In that crater, dubbed Eagle, the rover found clear evidence that large quantities of liquid water once existed on Mars.
The first image of the interior of the crater was released on Monday. It was taken when the rover was 20 metres away from the western rim of the Endurance crater on 29 April. But since then the rover has edged even closer and now sits just 50 centimetres from the precipice, which slopes downward at an angle of 18°.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the rover is taking high-resolution images of the far crater wall. That side appears to harbour thicker layers of rocks - which offer a longer geological record - than those in the Eagle crater 780 metres away.
"There clearly are a lot of interesting science targets inside this crater, including variations in the rock structure. The science team is excited about that," mission manager Matt Wallace told MSNBC.
The rover will skirt the entire rim of the crater in the next few weeks, snapping images and studying its rocks and soil. "We may look for some locations where we can dip a toe in and get up a little bit closer to some of the formations close to the crater rim," Wallace said.
The steepness of the crater walls means that if the rover does find a safe path down into the 25-metre-deep depression, "we may or may not be able to get back out", he said.
On the other side of the planet, Opportunity's twin, Spirit, has made a record daily journey of more than 90 metres on its way to the Columbia Hills. It will take more than a month to reach them, but as it approaches mission planners will have to decide whether to drive into the stratified hills or along the front of them.
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