William Atkins
Tuesday, 23 September 2008 09:01
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 2
NASA announced on September 22, 2008, that its Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is moving to a larger home on the planet Mars—a crater that is over twenty times larger than its previous home inside Victoria Crater.
According to the NASA media release, “
NASA’s Mars rover to head toward bigger crater,” after two years exploring inside Victoria Crater, which is about 0.5 mile (800 meters, or 0.8 kilometer) in diameter,
Opportunity is packing up and moving to new quarters.
It is heading toward Endeavour Crater, which is about seven miles (11 kilometers) southeast of its present location near Victoria Crater, on the surface of Mars.
What is so unique about this distance is that the rover has only traveled about seven miles since landing on the planet about 4.5 years ago.
If is makes the journey and arrives at Endeavour Crater, it will take the little rover about two years, since it can only travel about 330 feet (100 meters) each day--and cannot move at all, or only a limited amount, during the winter when temperatures drop drastically.
During these times it must preserve its solar-energized batteries and not perform too much activity.
A very good image of Victoria Crater and Endeavour Crater, which shows a good comparison of their sizes, is found at the NASA website “
Bigger Crater Farther South of 'Victoria' on Mars.”
NASA also advises everyone to use the name “Endeavour” informally because the name is only the “informal” name for the crater at this time.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU), the organization that names such bodies, has yet to approve the use of the name “Endeavour” for the crater.
Opportunity will get some assistance while on its trip to its new home. Please read page two.
