Opportunity to climb out of crater
Posted: Thu, Aug 28, 2008, 7:04 AM ET (1104 GMT)
NASA's Mars rover Opportunity will soon exit a crater it has been exploring for nearly a year, in part as a precaution as the rover ages. Opportunity has spent nearly a year inside Victoria Crater, examining exposed rock layers within the crater that has provided scientists with insights to the planet's history. The rover will exit the crater at the same place it entered and return to the plains around it, studying rocks in the region. Part of the reason for having Opportunity leave the crater is a electrical current spike recently detected in one of the rover's six wheels; a similar spike in Spirit came just before the affected wheel was disabled. Project officials said Opportunity could probably not leave the crater on just five wheels. Spirit, meanwhile, has survived another Martian winter although it will not begin to move again for a few months, when solar energy reaches sufficient levels.
NASA's Mars rover Opportunity will soon exit a crater it has been exploring for nearly a year, in part as a precaution as the rover ages. Opportunity has spent nearly a year inside Victoria Crater, examining exposed rock layers within the crater that has provided scientists with insights to the planet's history. The rover will exit the crater at the same place it entered and return to the plains around it, studying rocks in the region. Part of the reason for having Opportunity leave the crater is a electrical current spike recently detected in one of the rover's six wheels; a similar spike in Spirit came just before the affected wheel was disabled. Project officials said Opportunity could probably not leave the crater on just five wheels. Spirit, meanwhile, has survived another Martian winter although it will not begin to move again for a few months, when solar energy reaches sufficient levels.| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Tuesday, March 16
SpaceX Rocket to Carry Loral Satellite
Wall Street Journal — 5:29 am ET (0929 GMT) Kids design out-of-this-world postcards for initiative organized by CU-Boulder grad students
Boulder Daily Camera — 5:28 am ET (0928 GMT) Female astronauts: single women need not apply
Global Times — 5:24 am ET (0924 GMT) New Mexico spaceport clears legislative hurdle
AP — 5:24 am ET (0924 GMT) Gunfire near Indian space office
BBC — 5:21 am ET (0921 GMT) |