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They say it is about 24km North of the center of the predicted landing zone, in other words right on target. It began communicating as soon as it hit the ground. Not to bad, should be a interesting few weeks ahead.
Originally posted by Integral
They say it is about 24km North of the center of the predicted landing zone, in other words right on target. It began communicating as soon as it hit the ground. Not to bad, should be a interesting few weeks ahead.
Originally posted by LURCH
Did anybody watch the live webcast? What a ride!
NASA’s Opportunity rover appears to have hit a scientific jackpot sitting in a crater at the Meridiani Planum on Mars. Expectations are running high here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) that the spacecraft should be able to deliver on the Holy Grail of Mars research: Where’s the water and could life have ever existed on the Red Planet?[continued]
Engineers planned for Opportunity to drive about 10 feet Thursday, moving for the first time since it rolled off its lander Saturday. Since then, the rover has been studying in detail its surroundings, including the unusual ground beneath its six wheels.
Opportunity on Saturday moved about a meter closer to a formation nicknamed "Snout" to give one of its features closer examination. Scientists had Opportunity snap pictures of nearby soil, but skipped plans for the rover to dig into and analyze the soil to get to Snout more quickly. Opportunity's cameras have captured images of fine-scaled rock layering that could have formed in water. Its instruments should shed further light on the origin of the layers.
The Mars rover Opportunity has moved to the lip of the crater in which it landed and peeked out over the rim, mission scientists say. An image taken from that location shows part of the lander's shell and its parachute lying off in the distance across a flat, empty plain. The rover has been using onboard instruments to study a rock outcropping near the edge of the crater.
...
[Mission scientists] are particularly interested in small "spheroids" embedded in the rock [nick-named Stone Mountain]...
Opportunity is a robotic rover sent by NASA to explore the surface of Mars. It landed on Mars in 2004 and is currently located in the Meridiani Planum region on the Martian surface.
The main purpose of the Opportunity mission is to study the geology and climate of Mars and to search for evidence of past water activity on the planet. It is also used to test new technologies for future Mars missions.
Opportunity has been on the surface of Mars for over 15 years. It was originally planned to operate for only 90 Martian days (sols), but it has exceeded its expected lifespan and is still operational.
Opportunity has collected a wealth of data and images during its time on Mars. It has studied the composition and structure of Martian rocks and soil, as well as capturing stunning images of the Martian landscape.
Opportunity communicates with Earth through the use of radio waves. It transmits data and images to Earth through the Deep Space Network, a series of large antennas located around the world. Communication is possible because of the relatively short distance between Earth and Mars at certain points in their orbits.