Panorama of Victoria crater

Craters are interesting for scientists, as they enable access to the layers beneath the soil and a means to analyze the geological history of Mars. For planetary geologists in this case, Victoria will provide them with even more exposures of the subsurface of Mars than ever before.

Opportunity traveled for 21 months to Victoria before finally reaching its edge on September 26 2006 (sol 951), at the newly named "Duck Bay".^[2] Around the rover were features dubbed "No Name", "Duck Crater", "Emma Dean", "Maid of the Canyon", and "Kitty Clyde's Sister". It also imaged several nearby alcoves, informally named "Cape Verde" and "Cabo Frio", and a small bright crater the size of Beagle crater on the opposite end of Victoria.

Victoria crater may be the last major site that Opportunity will visit. One reason is that the large, deep crater may take up to a year to analyse thoroughly. Secondly, there are few other places of interest in the nearby vicinity, and other craters deeper than Victoria are more than 25 km away.^[3]

Exploration

After arrival at the crater, the rover undertook a partial clockwise circumnavigation. The trip took approximately a quarter of the way around the crater. The various "bays" and "capes" were named after various landmarks visited by Ferdinand Magellan aboard the ship Victoria.^[4]

The circumnavigation allowed rover drivers to identify possible entry and exit points, create a high resolution topographical map of the crater and test out upgraded drive software.^[4] The rover investigated the layering on the walls of the various capes and the nature of the dark streaks to the north of the crater.^[5]

Interior

After a planet-wide dust storm that delayed entry into the crater for six weeks and threatened the survival of both rovers, the rover entered the crater at a point in Duck Bay. This was accomplished by a test maneuver on sol 1291 to determine slippage and confirm exit strategies, followed by entry on sol 1293.^[6][7] During December 2007, data were collected from rock layers inside the crater.

See also

The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity at the rim of Victoria Crater as photographed from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

• List of craters on Mars
• Geography of Mars

Other craters visited by Opportunity

• Eagle Crater
• Fram Crater
• Endurance Crater
• Argo Crater
• Vostok Crater
• Erebus Crater
• Beagle Crater
• Emma Dean Crater

References

1. ↑
2. ↑
3. ↑
4. ↑ ^{a b}
5. ↑
6. ↑
7. ↑

External links

• Official Mars Rovers website
• NASA Rover Opportunity Takes First Peek Into Victoria Crater
• Google infrared map centred on Victoria Crater
• Victoria Crater relative to
• Cape St. Vincent of Victoria crater - Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for July 3, 2007

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