NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover is coming out of autopilot – resting on its laurels after reaching the huge Victoria Crater.

From October 19-29, both Opportunity and its roving twin, Spirit, stayed in one spot due to solar conjunction – a period when Earth and Mars are obscured from each other by the Sun, and a cosmic alignment that interferes with direct telecommunications.

But each robot was under order during the conjunction to acquire images of clouds passing overhead – like this image taken by Opportunity late in September from its Victoria Crater [image] vantage point.

Spirit and Opportunity scanned the Martian sky for clouds, measuring atmospheric dust, conducting chemical analysis of dust, rocks, and soils, and taking images.

The rovers stored the data, later transmitting it to Earth after solar conjunction.

• IMAGES: Opportunity’s Long Road to Victoria
• IMAGES: Visualizations of Mars
• Red Planet Recon: Complete Coverage of NASA’s MRO Mission to Mars
• Complete Coverage: Mars Rovers
• All About Mars

-- Leonard David