Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Rover Arrives at Endeavor Crater on Mars

NASA ^ | August 15, 2011 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: What can the present-day terrain in and around large Endeavor crater tell us about ancient Mars? Starting three years ago, NASA sent a coffee-table sized robot named Opportunity on a mission rolling across the red planet's Meridiani Planum to find out. Last week, it finally arrived. Expansive Endeavor crater stretches 22 kilometers from rim to rim, making it the largest crater ever visited by a Mars Exploration Rover (MER). It is hypothesized that the impact that created the crater exposed ancient rock that possibly formed under wet conditions, and if so, this rock may yield unique clues to the watery past of Mars. Pictured above, the west rim of Endeavor looms just ahead of the Opportunity rover. Opportunity may well spend the rest of its operational life exploring Endeavor, taking pictures, spinning its wheels, and boring into intriguing rocks.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA]

[SunkenCiv]

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[Cheetahcat]

WOW,way cool ,thanks for posting this!

[unkus]

Amazing. Thanks for posting.

[gunsequalfreedom]

I agree. Pretty neat to see Mars. Guess we need to bring water when tickets become available for the journey.

[knarf]

Damn .. that could be Arizona ...

[Cheetahcat]

“I agree. Pretty neat to see Mars. Guess we need to bring water when tickets become available for the journey.”

Unreal picture,the water would be a great idea,unless some shows up here.

[JRandomFreeper]

JFC on a raft, you think they could have packed more iron pyrite into it?

There's the first Martian fortune, scrabbling after those little iron balls.

/johnny

[caww]

Still amazes me greatly we have a robot cruising Mars and sending photos such as this....it’s almost mindboggling to imagine...but there it is!

[JRandomFreeper]

And the warranty ran to 600 meters.

And 3 months.

We got our $$s worth out of this one.

The other one rolled craps, though. It only got a few klicks.

/johnny

[count-your-change]

Add dome cheap condos and it would be. Can you say ‘Yuma’?

[JRandomFreeper]

Yuma as in Arizona? Let me go find a pistol...<>/johnny

[count-your-change]

I hope there’s not more than one Yuma. Mark Twain said the only time the weather changed there was when it got hotter.

[SunkenCiv]

But it’s dry cold.

[JRandomFreeper]

Been there. Sam was an optimist.

johnny

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure.

[JRandomFreeper]

Ya done good. We've looked on the 'landscape' of Mars, bitched about the lack of water and excess iron. And managed to smack down Yuma, Arizona (and it needs it) in the process.

And evoked Sam Clements.

What more can you ask for in 7 posts.

You are eclectic, if nothing else.

/johnny

[JRandomFreeper]

Personally, between you and me?

Folks that live in NM and AZ would probably be ok on Ares.

Just my opinion. But there is water there, up near the poles.

And crusty old cantancerous crumudgions might do ok.

/johnny

[jjsheridan5]

Thanks for posting these astronomy pics of the day. You are my unofficial supplier of desktop backgrounds. This is a good one.

[lurk]

Fake. The pic was taken in Nevada.