Mars Photo of the Day - Sept 12 2011

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Today's Mars Photo shows more of the fascinating rocks that surround Odyssey Crater. This image from Mars was taken on Sol 2707, but just arrived today (Sol 2714). The beauty of the Martian landscape never ceases to amaze me. I know a lot of people would like to travel to Mars so we could see with our own eyes the magnificence that Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity bears witness to day in and day out.

These rocks will likely be bypassed as Oppy makes its way to Cape York, but there are sure to be many more along the way! Click on this image to see the original, much larger image ans soak it in!

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Mars Photo of the Day - Sept 7 2011

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Today's Mars Photo is from Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity as it leaves behind the grouping of Tisdale rocks around Odyssey Crater. This comes after Opportunity spent a few days examining the various ejecta and determined that the rocks were unlike any others examined on Mars. Opportunity is now headed off to Cape York as it continues its search for the clay minerals discovered by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that indicate Mars may have once been habitable to life. 

The photo links to the original.

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Mars Photo of the Day - Sept 2 2011

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Today's Mars Photo shows the path taken by Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in recent weeks. This photo was taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera. I kept the labels added on by NASA because I know how hard it is to remember where everything is when you hear about Opportunity's discoveries. Hopefully you can use this image as a reference.

Clicking on this image will direct you to an article about Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, its status and new mission. See the larger, original image.

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A Rock on Mars Unlike Any Other

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Today NASA held a teleconference on the current status of Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity and its new mission. Opportunity has traveled much further, and lasted much longer than anyone could have hoped (see below for its path). Its original mission was to last about three months, but it has lasted more than 30 times longer.

Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's  path is marked in yellow. The path is marked with numbers which represent the sol when Opportunity was at the labeled location.
Source: NASA

The Mars rover recently reached Endeavour Crater, which Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE and CRISM cameras determined has clay minerals along the rim that are of different from any previously examined by Mars rovers.

In recent days Opportunity has been examining Tisdale-2, a rock unlike any ever encountered by a Mars rover.

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Mars Photo of the Day - Sept 1 2011

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Today's Mars Photo is of of a large rock named Trailbraker that is located in the vicinity of Odyssey Crater and the Tisdale rock clan. This rock is larger than any of the rocks in the area, but will not be further investigated since Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is set to leave the Tisdale site and head north where the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected clays with a chemical composition never before examined.

This photo is as large as the original image, but you can still click it to see it hosted by NASA.

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Mars Photo of the Day - Aug 31 2011

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Today's Mars Photo is a panoramic showing the remarkable geological smorgasbord around Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity at Odyssey Crater This photo was taken directly from The Road to Endeavour Blog and is the combination of the photos taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera on Sol 2699. To see the original, larger, and zoomable image, simply click on the image itself.

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Mars Photo of the Day - Aug 30 2011

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Today's Mars Photo is of Tisdale-1 as taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on Sol 2694. The right side of Tisdale-1 seems to be very smooth, though broken up by the veins that scar the entire rock. This implies a high level of heat (likely from impact by the meteorite that created Endeavour Crater) may have fused different rocks together, thus making this a composite rock like the other Tisdales, which is likely why it is in that category in the first place. The veins on the surface throughout imply some form of erosion that took place after the formation of the rock, but by what we can only speculate.

Click the image to see the enlarged version from NASA.

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Mars Photo of the Day - Aug 22 2011

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Today's Mars Photo is of Tisdale rock again, but this time the image shows just how close NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is to the rock. The photo was taken yesterday (Sol 2692). The Mars rover has likely begun performing tests as it attempts to learn more about the mysterious rock.

Photo of Tisdale Taken by MER Opportunity's Front HazCam on Sol 2692

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Mars Photo of the Day - Aug 19 2011

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Today's Mars photo is of the slab of rock that Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is set to begin examining. This rock has been given the name Tisdale and many expect that Opportunity will spend at least the next few days there, examining the rock itself and the surrounding area. Tisdale has been a target for the MER team since Opportunity first rolled up to Odyssey Crater.

Tisdale as taken from NASA's Panoramic camera on Sol 2688
Click the photo to go to see all of NASA's photos of Tisdale from Sol 2688.

See a rendering of Tisdale from Road to Endeavour

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The Importance of Mars Rover Opportunity's New Mission

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A few days ago Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity finally reached Odyssey Crater, which lies within the much larger Endeavour Crater. This is a huge milestone for the Mars rover, which has performed longer and traveled further on the Martian surface than anyone would have though possible when it landed in January 2004.

The question now is, what is so significant about Endeavour Crater? Why has Mars Rover Opportunity spent the last three years trying to get there? NASA and other people following the mission are excited, but the average person probably has no idea why. How is Mars Rover Opportunity's new location any different than its previous ones? What is its mission?

Endeavour Crater

Endeavour Crater is the largest crater ever explored by Mars Rover Opportunity and contains older geological deposits than it has ever encountered. This will allow Opportunity to get a better sense of how long there was water on the Martian surface and will even provide insight as to the quantity. That is simple enough; as the Mars rover did that in other craters as well; what is exceptional about Endeavour Crater is found around its rim.

What Makes This Mission Different


Mars Rover Opportunity has examined a large number of rocks and samples of Martian soil since it landed in January of 2004, but it has never encountered rocks like those found around Endeavour Crater. In the past Opportunity has examined clays that show signs of being formed under wet conditions, but when the Mars rover determined their chemical composition it was determined that they were very acidic. What makes Endeavour crater different is the composition of the clays surrounding it.

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