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NASA Rover Nears Scientists` Goal

Tens of millions of miles away from us, on the planet Mars, NASA?s ?Opportunity? rover has reached a key destination which NASA scientists had been wanting to reach for some time: a depression known simply as the Victoria Crater. Within the 800 meter-wide crater, it is thought that more information about the Red Planet?s geological past will be more easily discerned. On the other side of the fourth planet from the Sun, the Spirit rover is continuing its exploration of the Gusev Crater.

Opportunity has been exploring the Meridiani Plains of Mars for the past 33 months, no small feat considering that both Opportunity and Spirit have been working for far longer than anyone expected them to be able to. Of the rocks at Victoria Crater, one scientist says ?This is a geologist`s dream come true. Those layers of rock, if we can get to them, will tell us new stories about the environmental conditions long ago.?

NASA?s often-expressed goal has been to find evidence, if possible, of the past existence of water on the Martian surface. As Mars passes, from the perspective of Earth, behind the Sun, the two twin rovers will be operating at reduced power with a reduced workload throughout the month of October. While Opportunity conducts its latest explorations, Spirit will be resting, collecting solar energy into its panels so that it may continue its work.