14 DAY TRIAL // After several years of trekking on the surface of the Red Planet, the NASA Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity was finally able to observe the rim of its long-term target, the Endeavour Crater.
The explorations robot has been heading towards this large impact crater since mid-2008m when mission controllers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California, decided that the structure would yield the maximum scientific return.
The reason why Endeavour Crater is so important is because it's very deep and wide. This means that many layers of the Martian crust were exposed during the ancient impact event. By analyzing these rocks, Opportunity could get a more in-depth view of the planet's climate past.
Slowly but surely, the rover has been making its way for the crater for about three years now, stopping along the way at a variety of locations that experts deemed worthy of study. When this trek began, mission managers did not believe the would see that day when the rover reaches Endeavour.
Thus far, the explorations robot has traveled more than 50 times its original mission's requirements. During a 407-foot (124-meter) drive on July 17, its odometer exceeded 20 miles, and then moved on to exceed 33 kilometers on July 27.
Originally, both Opportunity and its twin MER Spirit were scheduled to endure for only three months on the surface of Mars, and to drive for about 600 meters. However, Spirit endured for 6+ years, and managed to cover more than 4 miles, while Opportunity is still operational after more than 7 years.
Experts decided to point Opportunity towards the Endeavour Crater after spending 2 years on the rim of Victoria Crater. While the latter has provided geologists with a large volume of date, that former is more than 25 times wider than Victoria, at 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter.
At this point, the rover is located about a football field away from Spirit Point, the location on Endeavour's rim that experts set as a target for Opportunity. JPL mission experts say that it will take less than a week to reach the target, after 3 years of driving.
During an observations session on August 4, the rover's panoramic cameras were able to make out the rim of Endeavour for the first time ever. This also gave rover drivers the data they needed to program a new course that safely navigates all the obstacles in the way.
Opportunity and Spirit completed their 3-month prime missions on Mars in April 2004. Both rovers continued for years of bonus, extended missions and have made important discoveries about wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life.