spacetoday.net: Mars rover replots crater exit route

Posted: Fri, Nov 12, 2004, 8:51 AM ET (1351 GMT)
Mars Exploration Rover (NASA/JPL)

The Mars rover Opportunity will take a path out of a large crater that will be much like the route it followed into the crater five months ago, project officials said Thursday. Rover operators had planned to have Opportunity exit the Endurance crater on an eastword path, but have since found that this approach would not be passable because of a combination of steep slopes and sandy areas. Instead, Opportunity will largely retrace the path its followed into Endurance in June, heading to the south to exit the crater. Before turning, though, Opportunity will examine a scarp called Burns Cliff that is 10 meters high near the rim of the crater, trying to determine of some of the layers seen in the scarp were formed by wind rather than water.