[meteorite-list] Opportunity Rover Reaches Halfway Point of Long Trek

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 16:06:49 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201009082306.o88N6nKw004487_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-292

Opportunity Rover Reaches Halfway Point of Long Trek
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
September 08, 2010

When NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity left Victoria Crater two
years ago this month, the rover science team chose Endeavour Crater as
the rover's next long-term destination. With a drive of 111 meters (364
feet) on Monday, Sept. 8, Opportunity reached the estimated halfway
point of the approximately 19-kilometer (11.8-mile) journey from
Victoria to the western rim of Endeavour.

Opportunity completed its three-month prime mission on Mars in April
2004. During its bonus extended operations since then, it spent two
years exploring in and around Victoria Crater. Victoria is about 800
meters (half a mile) in diameter. At about 22 kilometers (14 miles) in
diameter, Endeavour is about 28 times wider. After the rover science
team selected Endeavour as a long-term destination, observations of
Endeavour's rim by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed the
presence of clay minerals. This finding makes the site an even more
compelling science destination. Clay minerals, which form exclusively
under wet conditions, have been found extensively on Mars from orbit,
but have not been examined on the surface.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for the NASA Science Mission
Directorate, Washington. For more about the twin rovers Spirit and
Opportunity, see http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov.

Guy Webster (818) 354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

2010-292
Received on Wed 08 Sep 2010 07:06:49 PM PDT