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| NASA engineers and scientists continue to contemplate the safety and viability of sending the Mars rover Opportunity down steep rocky slopes deep into Endurance Crater. This view looking toward the northeast across the crater was assembled from frames taken by Opportunity's navigation camera on June 6. Since then, the vehicle has executed its first real "dip" into the crater, taking the route nearly straight ahead in this image into the "Karatepe" area of the crater. NASA/JPL | |
| Down into 'Endurance': This image from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's front hazard-avoidance camera shows the roverŐs view of the floor of "Endurance Crater." The image was taken from just inside the rim of the crater during Opportunity's 134th martian day, or sol, on June 9, 2004. NASA/JPL |
PASADENA, Calif. -- As NASA engineers and scientists on the Mars Exploration Rover project continue to contemplate the safety and viability of sending the rover Opportunity all the way down steep rocky slopes into Endurance crater, the vehicle continues to probe the crater's rim.
The rover has executed its first real "dip" into Endurance. The intent was to go far enough in that all wheels would be on the slope of the crater, and then come all the way back out, proving that the rover was capable of getting back out before going very deep. The other main objective was to gather information on the degree and nature of any slip that would be experienced while moving down the crater wall.
The execution went extremely well, according to engineers at the Jet Propulsion Lab, with slips and disturbance of the terrain well below acceptable levels, giving the team confidence that the rover is capable of going deeper. The engineering team will continue to characterize the variety of slopes and materials that Opportunity will encounter deeper in the crater.
Steve Squyres, astronomy professor at Cornell, the principal investigator for the twin Mars rovers, has said he expects the science return of going a short way into Endurance "to be very high."
The rover has taken a detailed set of images from the crater's edge that will aid in the project's assessment of traveling on the interior slopes of Endurance Crater.
The rover has been put through a mobility test and preparation activity that will aid rover planners should they decide to send the vehicle into Endurance. These tests includes a draw-bar pull activity where the front rover wheels are locked and dragged back across rocks by driving the other four wheels backwards for about one meter (3.3 feet). The draw-bar pull is intended to give insight into the friction between the wheels and the rock surface at this site. The other mobility preparation activity was to scuff each wheel on the surface by driving one wheel at a time for a few rotations in each direction (with all the other wheels locked).
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| Spirit's Shadow, Sol 153: This cylindrical-projection mosaic was created from navigation camera images acquired by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during Spirit's sol 153, on June 8, 2004. Spirit is pointing toward the base of the "Columbia Hills." NASA/JPL |
Earlier, Opportunity completed rock analysis with two of its instruments, the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and the Mossbauer spectrometer. The rover also acquired microscopic images before deploying its instrument arm on a rock target dubbed "Pyrrho." This interesting rock on the Endurance rim has a braided ripple pattern. Opportunity also used its miniature thermal emission spectrometer, proving that the instrument was, once again, able to survive the cold Martian night without its heater running.
Meanwhile, Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit, has advanced significantly closer to the "Columbia Hills" and now sits only 220 meters (722 feet) from its first target at the base, a location informally named "Spur B."