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16:47, June 29, 2007 |
The Mars rover Opportunity, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), will soon descend into a massive crater in hopes of learning more about the Red Planet's history, scientists said on Thursday.
Opportunity will descend into the crater through an alcove named Duck Bay, said John Callas, rover project manager at JPL headquartered in Pasadena, Los Angeles.
"Duck Bay looks like the best candidate for entry," Callas said. "It has slopes of 15 to 20 degrees and exposed bedrock for safe driving."
But he said these rovers are well past their design lifetimes, and another wheel could fail on either rover at any time.
"If Opportunity were to lose the use of a wheel inside Victoria Crater, it would make it very difficult, perhaps impossible, to climb back out," Callas said.
Scientists fear the aging rover may not be able to get out of the crater.
Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit, lost the use of one of its wheels about a year ago, limiting its ability to climb on the Martian surface.
Despite the risk that Opportunity could wind up forever stuck inside the half-mile-wide crater, the potential for gathering more information on the planet's ancient, wet environments makes the trip worthwhile, said scientists at the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA).
"While we take seriously the uncertainty about whether Opportunity will climb back out, the potential value of investigations that appear possible inside the crater convinced me to authorize the team to move forward into Victoria Crater," said Alan Stern, NASA associate administrator. "It is a calculated risk worth taking, particularly because the mission has far exceeded its original goals."
Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004 and was only expected to operate for 90 days, but it continues to successfully explore the planet's surface and transmit scientific data.
The rover arrived at the edge of Victoria Crater in September and has been exploring layered rocks in cliffs around its rim.
The crater, which is five times wider than a stadium-sized crater, was created by a meteor impact millions of years ago, according to NASA officials.
Source: Xinhua
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