AFTER hovering tantalisingly for months at the edge of a gorgeous Martian crater called Victoria, NASA鈥檚 Opportunity rover will finally head down into it.
Opportunity reached the rim of the 800-metre-wide Victoria crater in September 2006. Now the rover is set to tentatively dip into the crater on 7 or 9 July from a spot on the rim called Duck Bay. This has the shallowest slope of all the potential entrances to the crater, according to rover project manager John Callas of NASA鈥檚 Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
鈥淥f course there are risks,鈥� says Callas, pointing out that the terrain could be harder for the rover to grip than expected. 鈥淭he slips could be such that it would be very difficult to get out again.鈥� However, the potential for discovery is too tempting. 鈥淚f we were to end up stuck in that crater, the risk would be worth the reward,鈥� says Alan Stern of NASA in Washington DC.
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鈥淚f we were to end up stuck in that crater, the risk would be worth the reward鈥�
To reduce the risk, the rover will first drive until all six of its wheels are on the downward slope. Then it will try to back out, to test the driving conditions. If everything looks good, NASA will then send the rover right into the crater.
Scientists are drooling over a bright band of rock that extends around the inside of the crater. It is thought to be the planet鈥檚 original surface at the time of the impact that formed the crater billions of years ago. It promises clues to what Mars was like in its ancient past.
