NASA’s Opportunity rover is engaged in survey work at the edge of a crater dubbed Santa Maria. Scientists are pleased with the robot’s imagery showing a crater with diverse textures – including sand dunes at the crater’s bottom.
Opportunity has rolled up close to the crater’s lip – on the southeastern edge of Santa Maria. This crater is about 295 feet (90 meters) in diameter.
While Santa Maria is a relatively young feature, it is old enough to collect sand dunes in its interior. Rover imagery shows blocks of ejected material around the crater.
Santa Maria crater is located in Meridiani Planum.
Once its exploration at the crater’s edge is complete, Opportunity will wheel over roughly 4 miles (6 kilometers) to the far larger Endeavour crater, the robot’s long-term destination.
According to Mars scientists, the rim of Endeavour contains spectral indications of phyllosilicates — or clay bearing minerals — believed to have formed in wet conditions that could have been more habitable for life – contrasted to later acidic conditions on the red planet.
By Leonard David