Opportunity Mars rover tagged posts

This scene from NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity shows “Wharton Ridge,” which forms part of the southern wall of “Marathon Valley” on the rim of Endeavour Crater. The ridge’s name honors the memory of astrobiologist Robert A. Wharton (1951-2012). The scene is presented in approximately true color. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.

Opportunity Mars rover will drive down a gully carved long ago by a fluid that might have been water, according to the latest plans for the 12-year-old mission. No Mars rover has done that before. The longest-active rover on Mars also will, for the first time, visit the interior of the crater it has worked beside for the last 5 years. These activities are part of a 2-year extended mission that began Oct...