Fortunate discovery at 8-Year-Old Mars Rover's 'New Landing Site'
A report in the May 4 edition of the journal Science details discoveries Opportunity made in its first four months at the rim of Endeavour Crater, including key findings reported at a geophysics conference in late 2011. Opportunity completed its original three-month mission on Mars eight years ago. It reached Endeavour last summer, three years after the rover's science team chose Endeavour as a long-term destination. This crater is about 4 billion years old and 22 kilometers in diameter. The impact that excavated the crater left a jumble of fused-together rock fragments around the rim. In a chunk brought to the surface by a later, much smaller impact into the rim, Opportunity found evidence that the original impact released heated, underground water that deposited zinc in that rock. Later after the impact, cool water flowed through cracks in the ground near the edge of the crater and deposited veins of the mineral gypsum. Read more
Endeavour crater provides possible evidence of past water
The Mars rover Opportunity is a senior citizen, but still spry, and as it peers over the rim of the giant impact crater called Endeavour, it's embarking on what could be called a new mission, say its NASA guides. Read more
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity continues her journey across Meridiani Planum. The Rover is now approaching Endeavour Crater. You can see the far wall of the crater over the horizon which pitches and rolls as the rover traverses the undulating topography.
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity continues her journey across the great Meridiani Planum towards Endeavour Crater. This compilation of images shows the journey from sol2553 to sol2671.
Endeavour is an impact crater located in Meridiani Planum on Mars. Endeavour is 22 kilometres in diameter. Using Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data, phyllosilicate-bearing outcrops have been detected along the rim of this crater. These minerals may have formed under wet conditions in a low-acidic environment during the early history of Mars. There are raised rim segments to the north, east, and southwest. The rim has become worn, rounded and degraded, with infilling of plains material in a manner similar to the Victoria crater. Read more