Opportunity Keeps On Keepin' On

NASA’s Mars rover, Opportunity, is very close to reaching its next destination, Endeavour crater.

The plucky spacecraft that was designed for 3 months of operation and is now in its seventh year sent back a panoramic image of the crater. The crater is 14 miles in diameter and is an interesting site for scientific research because of exposed rock outcrops older than any that the rover has visited so far. Another image shows the route that Opportunity traveled marked in yellow.

Opportunity’s twin, Spirit, had ended its mission. NASA abandoned attempts to contact it in May after it did not respond following the Mars winter. It had become stuck with a wheel sunk into the sandy surface with its solar arrays pointing away from the Sun.