Mars rover closes in on biggest crater yet

Even years after they first lander on the Martian surface, the Mars rovers Opportunity and Spirit continue to make a number of significant scientific discoveries. The Mars rover Opportunity is currently at the edge of the Victoria Crater, a half mile wide crater on the Martian surface. This crater is about six times larger than the Endurance crater, a huge crater that Opportunity had previously come in contact with in 2004. At the time of this articles publishing, the rover was within one kilometer of the crater. Movement is difficult because of the rugged terrain and the fact that Opportunity is a old rover and has been used for several years straight. Researchers expected that it would take another month or two before the rover made contact with the edge of the giant crater. Once there, the rover will take the chance to take numerous images of the huge terrain feature and conduct soil samples to determine the composition of the asteroid that created it.


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