[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Snaps Panorama of Yawning Crater

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2006 09:01:18 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200611171701.JAA20721_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn10596-mars-rover-snaps-panorama-of-yawning-crater.html

Mars rover snaps panorama of yawning crater
David Shiga
New Scientist
16 November 2006

A new panorama of Mars's Victoria crater has been released in honour of
the hardy rover Opportunity's 1000th sol, or Martian day, on the Red
Planet. Meanwhile, Opportunity's twin, Spirit, has started moving again
after seven months of being parked in the same spot.

Opportunity, which celebrated its 1000th sol on Wednesday, took the
panorama on 5 October from a perch on the Cape Verde promontory at the
edge of the 800-metre-wide crater. Tracks in the Martian soil show the
rover's path around Victoria's rim, and wind-sculpted sand dunes sit on
the crater floor.

The rover has since driven away from Cape Verde and is heading towards
another promontory called Cape St. Mary. It will be looking for safe
entry points into the crater along the way.

On the other side of Mars, Spirit has finally started moving again after
a long winter campout. Since April 2006, it has been parked on a rocky
slope named Low Ridge Haven.

Long hiatus

During the long Martian winter, there was too little solar power for
Spirit to drive around. So it has spent the time snapping pictures with
its cameras and examining rocks and soil within reach of its instrument arm.

But on 5 November it began to stir again, crawling over to some bright
soil about 70 centimetres away that had been churned up by one of its
wheels on its way to its winter resting spot.

Examination with the rover's spectrometers over the past few days has
confirmed mission scientists' suspicions that the material is rich in
sulphates, says rover scientist Ray Arvidson of Washington University in
St. Louis, US.

This means it would have formed in the presence of water, he says. The
tracks also contain some bluish material. "There's an enormous amount of
sulphur in the light material and we want to see if the blue material
has sulphur in it too," Arvidson told New Scientist.

Duty calls

Both the sulphur and water may have come from eruptions of a suspected
ancient volcano nearby, part of which is exposed in an outcrop called
Home Plate, Arvidson says.

In addition to their regular science activities, the rovers may be
called on in the near future to help rescue NASA's orbiting Mars Global
Surveyor. The 10-year-old orbiter has not been heard from since 5
November, after reporting difficulties in moving one of its solar arrays.

The rovers may be asked to listen for a radio beacon on the wayward
spacecraft, which MGS managers may try to turn on as a way of confirming
that the orbiter is still alive (see Fleet of probes enlisted to contact
silent Mars orbiter
<http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn10522-fleet-of-probes-enlisted-to-contact-silent-mars-orbiter.html>).
Received on Fri 17 Nov 2006 12:01:18 PM PST