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Sunday, Oct 08, 2006
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Probing on the red planet

Wheeled robot captures clues about Martian past

— PHOTO: AP/NASA/JPL/Cornell

NEW CLUES: Victoria Crater, with a distinctive scalloped shape to its rim, caused by erosion and downhill movement of crater wall material.

LOS ANGELES: Scientists said they are plotting the next move for the Mars Rover Opportunity, which reached the edge of a deep and geologically rich crater last week after a marathon trek.

The six-wheel robot spent its first week at Victoria Crater acting like a tourist, snapping pictures of the 800-metre-wide jagged crevasse filled with dramatic cliffs of thickly layered rocks, which hold clues about the Martian past.

New aerial images snapped by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which slipped into orbit last year, gave scientists a bird's-eye view of the crater and evidence of erosion around the rim. In one image, the rover appeared as a speck with its wheel tracks visible in the soil.

By studying close-ups of the rover's surroundings and aerial shots taken by the orbiter, scientists hope to zero in on the safest route for the rover to enter and probe the inner walls before it goes bust. "This vehicle could die at any minute. We have no guarantee that it's going to last," rover principal investigator Steve Squyres of Cornell University said on Friday.

Opportunity drove for 21 months to reach Victoria, which is five times bigger than another crater the rover spent six months studying in 2004. . — AP

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