A meteor that hit Mars millions of years ago created the huge Victoria Crater, which is named after one of the five ships of Ferdinand Magellan (and the first one that circumnavigated the Earth).

The impact crater is about 730 meters (0.45 miles) across. The rim of the crater contains sections that have deep overhangs while other sections are more gradually sloped. Duck Bay, a recess on Victoria’s rim has been selected as the entrance point for Opportunity’s travels into the crater.

When inside Victoria, the rover will investigate the composition and textures of the materials. As it descends further into the crater, Opportunity will be exposed to older and older subsurface soils and rock formations—which tells the geological history of Mars. The scientists in charge of the mission hope that the risky journey into Victoria will produce valuable information about the ancient past of Mars.

A huge dust storm, one of the worst storms in years on the planet and the worst one in the 1,000-plus days that the two rovers—Opportunity and Spirit—have seen since landing on Mars, has delayed the descent into Victoria. However, the storm is now letting up. Mission scientists hope that Opportunity will be able to start its journey later in the week of July 9, 2007.

On February 6, 2007, Opportunity had traveled over 10,000 meters (about 6.2 miles) on the surface of Mars—a record for any rover on the planet.

For additional information about the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission, go to the NASA website: http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20070628a.html.

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