On July 17 the Mars rover Opportunity passed the twenty mile mark on its now seven year journey on Mars. The image below was taken on that day. In the distance, now only about 4,000 feet away, can be seen the rim of Endeavour Crater, fourteen miles wide. Opportunity has been traveling toward that crater now since 2008.
With the rover able to travel about 300 to 500 feet each sol, it should be reaching the crater’s rim sometime in the next few weeks.
NASA to announce on Friday the landing site of Curiousity, the next Mars rover.
Gale Crater now heads the list for Curiosity’s landing site on Mars.
Better buy that ticket now if you want to see the last shuttle launch from the best spot: Online prices have soared for space shuttle Atlantis launch tickets.
Tear-drop shaped mesas on Mars suggest ancient oceans to scientists.
An evening pause: Yesterday we went down into the Earth. Now let’s go to Mars.
Magnetic bubbles at the edge of the solar system.
Opportunity’s target on the rim of Endeavour crater has been dubbed “Spirit Point” by the science team in honor of the now defunct rover.
The Russian/ESA Mars 500 mission has completed a year of its 520-day simulated flight to Mars.
The crew, who spent 250 days working on maintenance and scientific experiments before a 30-day stint performing tasks on a simulated Martian surface, are currently on their “return trip” to Earth.
This simulated all-male flight is going better than the last:
In 1999, an experiment in the same Moscow warehouse fell to pieces after a Russian team captain forced a kiss on a Canadian woman, and two Russian crewmembers had a bloody fistfight.
Opportunity’s travels on Mars have now exceeded 30 kilometers.
Opportunity’s journey across the deserts of Mars continues; with pictures.
A bullet dodged? The next Mars rover, the Mars Science Lab, appears to be okay after last week’s mishap.
