Explanation:
Celebrating 7 years
on the surface of
the Red Planet,
Mars exploration rover Opportunity now stands near the
rim of 90 meter wide
Santa
Maria crater.
Remarkably, Opportunity and its fellow
rover Spirit were initially
intended for a 3 month
long primary mission.
Still exploring, the golf cart-sized robot and shadow (far right)
appear in the foreground of this panoramic view of its
current location.
The mosaic was constructed using images from the rover's navigation
camera.
On its
7 year anniversary,
Opportunity can boast traversing a total of 26.7 kilometers
along
the martian surface.
After investigating Santa Maria crater, controllers plan to have
Opportunity resume a long-term trek toward Endurance crater,
a large, 22 kilometer diameter crater about 6 kilometers from
Santa Maria.
During coming days, communication with the rover will be more
difficult as Mars moves close to alignment with the Sun as seen
from planet Earth's
perspective.
