14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California have just released a new image collected by the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity on the rim of Endeavour Crater. The photo shows the silhouette of the robot projected over the Martian ground, illuminated by the setting Sun.
The image was collected on March 20, 2014, during Opportunity's 3,609th Martian day, or sol. The spacecraft arrived on the Red Planet on January 25, 2004, for a mission that was originally supposed to last just 3 months. Around two months ago, the sturdy robot celebrated its 10th anniversary on Mars.
Though it landed very far away off-target, the rover has spent several years driving towards the Endeavour Crater, which was its main science objective. The shadow we see in this image projects over a feature called the McClure-Beverlin Escarpment, located on the western rim of the Crater.
This feature is currently being investigated to determine whether or not it was ever able to support even basic life forms. Opportunity was able to image it using the low-mounted, wide-angle rear hazard avoidance camera. This instrument is generally used to identify rock, outcrops, or ditches that may be harmful to the rover as it moves across the Martian surface.
Also included in this image is a small portion of the Endeavour Crater, which measures around 22 kilometers (14 miles) in diameter. Astronomers believe that a large asteroid produced this landscape feature, in Mars' distant past.