[meteorite-list] Opportunity: 'Victoria Crater' After Sol 950 Drive

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Sep 27 12:50:03 2006
Message-ID: <200609271650.JAA24009_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20060927a.html

Press Release Images: Opportunity

'Victoria' After Sol 950 Drive
September 27, 2006

[Image]
This image is a combinaation of six exposures taken by Opportunity's
navagation camera. The images were taken within about 20 meters of the
rim of 'Victoria Crater' The scalloped shape of the crater is visible on
the left edge.

A drive of about 30 meters (about 100 feet) on the 950th Martian day, or
sol, of Opportunity's exploration of Mars' Meridiani Planum region
(Sept. 25, 2006) brought the NASA rover to within about 20 meters (about
66 feet) of the rim of "Victoria Crater." From that position, the
rover's navigation camera took the six exposures combined into this
view. The scalloped shape of the crater is visible on the left edge. Due
to a small dune or ripple close to the nearest part of the rim, the
scientists and engineers on the rover team planned on sol 951 to drive
to the right of the ripple, but not quite all the way to the rim, then
to proceed to the rim the following sol. The image is presented in
cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction.

Victoria Crater is about 800 meters (one-half mile) in diameter, about
five times wider than "Endurance Crater," which Opportunity spent six
months examining in 2004, and about 40 times wider than "Eagle Crater,"
where Opportunity first landed. The great lure of Victoria is the
expectation that a thick stack of geological layers will be exposed in
the crater walls, potentially several times the thickness that was
previously studied at Endurance and therefore, potentially preserving
several times the historical record.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20060927a/merb_sol950_ncam_cyl-B951R1.jpg
Received on Wed 27 Sep 2006 12:49:59 PM PDT