[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Trekking Toward More Layers

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2013 10:48:15 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201306071748.r57HmFJx007579_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-194

Mars Rover Opportunity Trekking Toward More Layers
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
June 07, 2013

PASADENA, Calif. - Approaching its 10th anniversary of leaving Earth,
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is on the move again, trekking
to a new study area still many weeks away.

The destination, called "Solander Point," offers Opportunity access to a
much taller stack of geological layering than the area where the rover
has worked for the past 20 months, called "Cape York." Both areas are
raised segments of the western rim of Endeavour Crater, which is about
14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter.

"Getting to Solander Point will be like walking up to a road cut where
you see a cross section of the rock layers," said Ray Arvidson of
Washington University, St. Louis, deputy principal investigator for the
mission.

Solander Point also offers plenty of ground that is tilted toward the
north, which is favorable for the solar-powered rover to stay active and
mobile through the coming Martian southern-hemisphere winter.

"We're heading to a 15-degree north-facing slope with a goal of getting
there well before winter," said John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., project manager for the Mars Exploration
Rover Project. The minimum-sunshine days of this sixth Martian winter
for Opportunity will come in February 2014.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project launched twin rovers in 2003:
Spirit on June 10 and Opportunity on July 7. Both rovers landed in
January 2004, completed three-month prime missions and began years of
bonus, extended missions. Both found evidence of wet environments on
ancient Mars. Spirit ceased operations during its fourth Martian winter,
in 2010. Opportunity shows symptoms of aging, such as loss of motion in
some joints, but continues to accomplish groundbreaking exploration and
science.

Shortly before leaving Cape York last month, Opportunity used the rock
abrasion tool, the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and the microscopic
imager on its robotic arm to examine a rock called "Esperance" and found
a combination of elements pointing to clay-mineral composition.

"The Esperance results are some of the most important findings of our
entire mission," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.,
principal investigator for the mission. "The composition tells us about
the environmental conditions that altered the minerals. A lot of water
moved through this rock."

Cape York exposes just a few yards, or meters, of vertical cross-section
through geological layering. Solander Point exposes roughly 10 times as
much. Researchers hope to find evidence about different stages in the
history of ancient Martian environments. The rim of Endeavour Crater
displays older rocks than what Opportunity examined at Eagle, Endurance,
Victoria and Santa Maria craters during the first eight years of the
rover's work on Mars.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate. For more about Spirit and Opportunity, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov . You can
follow the project on Twitter and on Facebook at:
http://twitter.com/MarsRovers and http://www.facebook.com/mars.rovers .

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

2013-194
Received on Fri 07 Jun 2013 01:48:15 PM PDT