14 DAY TRIAL // The Martian rover Opportunity is currently heading towards the rim of Endeavour Crater, a large landscape feature on the surface of Mars. Experts at NASA have decided to name the spot where the exploration rover is scheduled to stop Spirit Point, in honor of Opportunity's lost twin.
Spirit ceased all communications with mission controllers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California last year. At that time, winter had arrived at its location, and the robot entered a special survival mode to preserve its energy.
But the robot should have awaken earlier this year, experts say, which it did not. After months of unsuccessful attempts of contacting it, experts at NASA gave up on the machine, and declared it dead.
In honor of the nearly 7 years Spirit spent roving the Martian landscape, experts informally named the edge of Endeavour Crater after the machine. Opportunity is therefore now heading for Spirit Point.
The second rover, which arrived on Mars shortly after Spirit, has spent the past three years heading towards Endeavour Crater, a massive impact basin located kilometers away from Victoria Crater.
The latter is the place where Opportunity spent an important amount of its time on Mars. It is located about 7 kilometers away from the place where the rover first landed. Since if left, the machine traveled for miles, in order to get close to Endeavour Crater.
On the road, it met a few interesting space rocks and small craters, which it stopped to study in detail, sometimes for weeks at a time. Simultaneously, it continued its journey towards the large crater, which experts say will provide them with a better understanding of the planet's climate past.
Given its size, the crater must have been produced by a massive space impactor, which means that it runs deep in the ground. The violent collision surely dug deep into the Martian crust, exposing rock layers that would have taken years to explore otherwise.
When Opportunity will reach Endeavour, it will perch itself on the rim at a location called Spirit Point.
“Spirit achieved far more than we ever could have hoped when we designed her,” explains principal MER investigator Steve Squyres, who is based at the Cornell University.
“This name will be a reminder that we need to keep pushing as hard as we can to make new discoveries with Opportunity. The exploration of Spirit Point is the next major goal for us to strive for,” he says.
From this location, the rover will observe the rock layers, and study the processes that led to their formation. This may provide experts with new insight into whether the Red Plant was once a watery world or not. Other evidence would seem to suggest this.
Opportunity, having recently exceed the 30-kilometer mark of its travels – is now only 2 miles (about 3 kilometers) away from Endeavour. After nearly four years of driving, it will finally reach the end of its journey.