NASA’s always on the go Opportunity Mars rover is inspecting Santa Maria crater – providing new imagery showing the geology of the relatively fresh feature.
Scientists are delighted with the new photos that show outcrop exposures at the crater’s rim.
Santa Maria is roughly 312 feet (95 meters) in diameter, explained William Farrand, a Mars rover science team member and Senior Research Scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
Farrand said the rover’s investigations should help scientists better understand how craters are formed and modified on Mars in general and at Opportunity’s exploration zone: Meridiani Planum.
Opportunity completed its three-month prime mission on Mars in April 2004. The robot on wheels has been working in bonus extended missions since then.
After the investigations at Santa Maria, the rover team plans to resume a long-term trek by Opportunity to the rim of Endeavour Crater (seen in the background of the above image) which is huge compared to Santa Maria, roughly 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter!
By Leonard David