NASA's Mars
rover Opportunity finished
a planned "toe-dip" into an
ancient martian impact
crater and encountered
some slick terrain along the way.
The drive is the robotic explorer's
most significant foray after weeks-long dust storms threatened to shut it down.
The robot drove
in and then
backed out
of the crater Tuesday at Duck Bay, the most gradual and rover-accessible entry
point into the 2,625-foot-wide
(800-meter) crater at Meridiani Planum. Mission managers hope to sample exposed
layers of rock along the crater rim for the best glimpse ever into Mar's geological
past.
Opportunity radioed home information about the
adventure, letting mission managers know that it drove far enough in--about 13
feet (four meters)--to get all six wheels past the crater rim for the first
time. It then backed uphill for about 10 feet (three meters) to retreat from the
scheduled dip.
In spite of
Duck Bay's gentle incline, the rover's wheels encountered excessive slippage, according to a NASA
statement. Like a car spinning out on a dirt road, Opportunity's front wheels slipped more than the allowable 40 percent at the edge of the
crater.
Mission managers are still determining whether the loose ground
is serious enough to prevent
Opportunity from carrying out its long-delayed task at the crater.
"We will
do a full assessment of what we learned from the drive [Tuesday] and use that
information to plan Opportunity's descent into the crater," said John
Callas, rover project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
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