Posted: Mon, Jun 14, 2004, 7:51 PM ET (2351 GMT)
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has entered a crater it plans to study, while its twin Spirit has reached the edge of a region of hills it had been travelling towards for weeks. Opportunity entered Endurance Crater over the weekend, edging about six meters into the crater. Other than some slight slippage of its wheels, engineers have noticed no problems with the entry, nor anything that would suggest difficulties trying to leave the crater. Opportunity is scheduled to proceed about three more meters into the crater to study an outcrop of rock. On the other side of the planet, the rover Spirit has reached the outskirts of the Columbia Hills, about three kilometers from its landing site in Gusev Crater. Scientists hope that Spirit will be able to study rocky areas in the hills that may provide evidence of how much water once existed in that region of the planet, and when.
