Nasa rover to land in Martian crater
AFP, Washington
The US space agency has decided to send one of its Martian rovers into a volcanic crater in the hope of finding evidence of water there -- even at the risk of being unable to retrieve the craft after it completes its mission. Officials said Friday the rover Opportunity would be able to enter Endurance Crater early next week. "Layered rock exposures inside Endurance Crater may add significantly to the story of a watery past environment that Opportunity has already begun telling us," Doctor Edward Weiler, associate administrator for space science at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said in a statement. He expressed confidence Opportunity would be able to descend into the crater, examine exposed diagnostic rock, and then drive back to the surface of the Red Planet. "However, there's no guarantee of getting out again, so we also considered what science opportunities outside the crater would be forfeited if the rover spends its remaining operational life inside the crater," Weiler cautioned. Endurance Crater has been attracting scientists because of its thicker and older layers of rock than those examined previously by NASA's two rovers scouring the surface of Mars. During its earlier exploration of Eagle Crater, Opportunity found small-scale rock textures and evaporite mineral compositions indicating that a body of salty water covered the site a long time ago.
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