On Jan. 25, 2004, Opportunity landed inside Eagle Crater on a region of Mars called Meridiani Planum. Its twin rover, Spirit, landed on an opposite side of the planet but lost contact with Earth in 2010 after becoming stuck in soil. Opportunity, still successfully operating and communicating with scientists and engineers, was maneuvered more than 22 miles to reach the prime chunk of real estate.
Images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suggest that Endeavour may hold clays, which usually need water to form. It's the kind of material that scientists hope JPL's newest and most powerful rover, Curiosity, will find.
Opportunity does have limitations: Its miniature thermal emission spectrometer and Mossbauer spectrometer, two key mineralogy instruments, are broken.
But scientists will still be able to gauge what kind of rocks the rover rolls by looking at details like texture and layering, said JPL project scientist Matt Golombek. “We can do what a geologist does in the field.”
The rover still has the power to clear dust off rocks and take scenic panoramic and close-up shots of the Red Planet.
The earthbound rover drivers, like scientists, have to work around Opportunity's handicaps .
The rover's front right steering actuator is jammed and its shoulder joint has issues analogous to arthritis. Ashley Stoupe, who was a driver on Spirit and now on Opportunity, said she has learned to turn the rover without moving its problem areas.
Drivers can't go for a joy ride on the planet. They must take their time to ensure that the senior rover isn't slipping on rocks or driving too deep into a crater. Going from target to target takes more time, but it's worth it to keep the rover running, Stoupe said.
