14 DAY TRIAL // While Curiosity is going like the wind, the Martian wind at least, and making good progress on her long trip towards Mount Sharp, there's another rover on Mars, one that's still going strong after almost a decade of work.
The Opportunity rover is embarking on a new mission as well, it has started climbing Solander Point, the northern tip of the largest hill it has yet encountered, NASA says.
"This is our first real Martian mountaineering with Opportunity," Steve Squyres of Cornell University, the principal investigator for the rover, said.
"We expect we will reach some of the oldest rocks we have seen with this rover—a glimpse back into the ancient past of Mars," he added.
The obstacle may not seem like much to a human or even to Curiosity, but Opportunity is rather small.
The rover will face outcrops as tall as two to six meters (six to 20 feet) and slopes of up to 15 and 20 degrees.
At this new location, the team hopes to find more signs of water and discover more about Mars' early days.