The 12-year mission being executed by the rover named "Opportunity" is now ready to disembark on its new assignment: to descend to the crater which is 14 miles or 22 kilometers across.
The past years were very productive as "Opportunity" had researched other smaller craters around the plains and found acidic residue of ancient water as proof that this fluid once covered this area. The rover "Opportunity" had reached the rim of this crater in 2011. The crater was named Endeavor. Now that "Opportunity" is at the eastern rim of the crater, it will now extend its research on a place called "Bitterroot Valley".
The area of descent is a gully believed to have been curved by water that used to flow from West to East to a distance of about two football fields. The fluid that flowed through these parts must have water involved in it, according to Principal Investigator Steve Squyres from the Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
The mission of "Opportunity" is to investigate the whole expanse of this gully and to comparatively examine the variation of rocks and stone in comparison to those found on the areas around the top of the crater. The Rover team will be facing a challenge on how to extend the life of Opportunity's parts and elements since its twin rover "Spirit" succumbed to the harsh elements of space on its fourth Martian winter in 2010. "Opportunity", on the other hand, has surpassed its life expectancy and is now on its 8th Martian Winter, NASA said.
The last two-year extended missions found Opportunity exploring the Marathon Valley, an area of the western rim of the crater "Endeavor". Here, "Opportuniy" found water connected minerals. It passed through Lewis and Clark Gaps that separates Marathon Valley from Bitteroot Valley.
Next generation rover, "Curiosity", is being prepared to take the next steps of the journey to Mars. It is slated through years 2018 and 2020, so it can finally send humans to Mars by 2030.
